A Hell of a Life
by Zaxxon
Summary: HTMLized. MegaXOver. Ranma has finally returned after having quote a hell of a life end quote in which he's been to Hell, Heaven, and number of Universes inbetween and now, he's back. RanmaMultiple.
1. Chapter One

  
  
  


"A Hell of a Life"  
by Shaule Sachs  
  
= - = Part 1 = - =  
  


* * *

Version 1.1.html.ffnet  
#ifndef  
#define ahoal/author_notes.h  
Author Notes:  
Working title of "A Hell of a Life" suggested by **Louis-Philippe Giroux**.   
This is a **MEGA** crossover, in that there are elements from other series, both American television, anime, and comics, involved in this story. To name a few, "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues", "Wonder Woman", "Bubblegum Crisis", "Dr. Strange", and "Kung Fu: The Original Series".  
Appendices will added to help people with non-anime/manga characters...   
Chronological Note: The time frame for this fic is tentatively after Japanese Volume 22, part 2, where the character of "Nodoka Saotome" is introduced for the first time. It's "tentatively" because I only have the Viz Graphic Novels up to Volume Eleven, although I have gone to the Ranma 1/2 FAQ, and downloaded a copy of all the manga summaries...   
Font key: _Italics_ will between two '_//_' and denote thoughts.   
**Bold** will between '*****' and denote emphasis.   
Translated languages will between ''s and ''s otherwise everything is to be considered to be in native speaker's language (i.e. Japanese) #endif  
  


* * *

_//Ranma IS coming BACK!//_ Akane thought angrily as she walked to school. True, it had been over a week since Ranma and Happosai had disappeared in a cloud of smoke with that demon they had fought. The possibility that Ranma could be dead did not cross her mind. Only the sorrow of Ranma's disappearance and continuing absence kept her from erupting in anger at the gossip-mongers. 

The rumors going around the school didn't help much.... Nabiki had started a betting pool on when Ranma would return. The most popular bet was that he wouldn't. The side bets were that either Ranma was dead or that he didn't wish to return to Nerima. The second most popular bet was that he would return in two days, after the first two days passed, those people joined either the Ranma-was-dead group or Ranma-wasn't-coming-back group. 

Although a week had passed, the events that lead up to Ranma's disappearance were still fresh to her. Akane remembered.... 

= - = - = - =

It was a typical afternoon, Ranma and his father were practicing in the backyard. Ranma was still embarrassed about telling Akane that he loved her during the "martial arts cheerleading" match. Fortunately for the baka, he never denied it when they were lone. Ranma was taking his anger out on his father for preventing him from meeting his mother in the park that she had tried to arrange. 

As Akane watched, she marveled at Ranma's level of skill, and how handsome he was as he dodged, countered, and counter-attacked his father's moves. In doing so, she realized that she loved Ranma and had since Nabiki had tried to take Ranma away from her. 

After Ranma and Genma had been sparring for a half an hour, Kasumi brought out some lemonade for everyone to cool off with. At which point, Ranma and Genma stopped sparring and went to Kasumi to get some lemonade. Nabiki had just returned from her errands so everyone had some lemonade. Much to Akane's surprise, Ranma had even sat down next to her. She took advantage of it by leaning against him. 

Akane was content. It was a beautiful day, she had Ranma at her side, a glass of refreshing lemonade, and her family close by. What more could a girl ask for? 

Out of nowhere, a bucket of water hit Ranma, thus triggering his curse. Onna-Ranma and the rest looked surprised. Everyone knew Ranma was a water magnet, but even water did not come out of thin air. 

The answer came from a voice attached to onna-Ranma's bust. Happosai, holding up a bra, asked onna-Ranma, "Would you please wear this for your beloved master?" 

"Get off me, you old pervert!" onna-Ranma screamed as she threw Happosai at a tree. Happosai used the tree to bounce back at onna-Ranma. Onna-Ranma side-stepped Happosai, who landed a couple of feet away. 

Just as Happosai was going to say something, a loud crash was heard. The sound came from the Tendo Dojo wall crumpling as a giant stepped on it. The giant looked just like an Oni out of the old legends. The Oni was a huge, muscled, fanged monster with horns like a bull, red skin and carrying a kanabo, a large spiked iron bar. 

The Oni looked at Happosai and said, "I have found you again, monk!" 

"And you'll regret it, again, Oni!" Happosai answered back. 

Onna-Ranma was as confused as everyone else. Dumbly, onna-Ranma took the hot water that Kasumi handed her and dumped it over her head. After a few seconds, Ranma, now male, saw Happosai battling the Oni. Ranma noticed that Happosai's manners, attitude, and style had changed from the old perverted, babbling Happosai he knew to a serious, quiet martial artist. It was like seeing a completely different person. Ranma watched, slightly in awe, as Happosai attacked and countered the Oni with the skill and determination of a true master of the Martial Arts. It was something that Ranma had never seen in Happosai before. Ranma also noted that the Oni and Happosai were evenly matched. From the ease with which the other could counter the other's special moves, Ranma thought this was a battle that had been fought many times over. Probably to a stalemate, each time. 

Despite all the problems Happosai had caused Ranma, he could not stand by and let Happosai fight alone. The amount of damage that Happosai and the Oni were causing and a near-miss that had almost hit Akane helped Ranma make his decision. Ranma attacked the Oni with a flying side-kick to the Oni's head which caught it off-guard and sent the Oni tumbling down. 

The Oni quickly got up and attacked Ranma. While Ranma dodged, Happosai attacked it. When the Oni directed its attention to Happosai, Ranma would attack. Unable to defend itself from a two-sided attack, the Oni decided to leave. As the Oni was teleporting, Ranma and Happosai saw an opening and attacked. 

There was a flash of light and a cloud of smoke. After the cloud disappeared, the Oni, Happosai, and Ranma was gone. All that remained was a stench similar to one of Akane's cooking attempts. 

= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =  


Kasumi while cleaning noticed Nodoka Saotome entering the walkway that lead to the house. While Kasumi was happy to see Aunt Nodoka, she did not like the fact that she had to lie to her about Ranma and his father's wherabouts. So, when Nodoka asked after Ranma, Kasumi was happy that she did not have to lie. She could honestly say she did not know where he was or when he would return. Kasumi was surprised when Nodoka did not sigh as she usually did nor did she inquire about her husband. 

Instead, with a neutral face, Nodoka said, "I know..." 

Those two little words worried Kasumi but Manners must be observed. So Kasumi invited Nodoka for tea but Nodoka simply said, "Please forgive me, but I must see to something first...." 

It was then that Kasumi noticed two things as Nodoka walked toward the backyard. First, the Saotome family sword which Nodoka always carried on her back was missing. The second was that Nodoka had a thermos in her hand. 

In the backyard, Soun Tendo sat next to the shogi board contemplating his next move. By the pond, a wet panda was playing with a tire. A sign near the panda said, "I am a simply a panda." 

Nodoka simply walked over to Mister Panda, unscrewed the thermos she had, and threw the thermos' contents at the panda. Upon being splashed with hot water, the panda changed into Genma right before Nodoka's eyes. 

Kasumi, who had watched the events unfolded, saw that not a flash of surprise crossed Nodoka's face, only a resigned sadness was present. The silence that descended with Genma's transformation ended with Nodoka's statement of "So, it's true..." 

= - = - = - =

During lunch, Akane could hear the various people whispering around her. Just as it was getting to the point where she was going to bash someone, the crowd of students fell silent. 

Looking around she noticed that everyone was looking towards the East. She noticed that all the boys had stars in their eyes and all the girls were wild-eyed. After observing the group, she turned her attention to the object that had so captured everyone else's attention. 

Walking towards her was a woman. Words like regal, perfect, divine, wonder, and the like floated through her head as she looked at the stranger. The strange woman's hair was like an wave in the ocean as it floated in the air. There was something strange about the woman's eyes but Akane's mind refused to identify it. The strange woman didn't so much as walk as she seemed to glide over the distance between herself and Akane. 

The woman stopped a few meters in front of Akane and began to look her over from toe to head. Akane felt naked in the woman's stare. After the inspection, the woman looked down at Akane and stared directly into her eyes. 

There was a music element to the woman voice as she spoke to Akane saying, "So you are the one called Akane Tendo..." 

Akane felt like she was made out of marble, she could not move or say anything. Not that she had anything to say... 

The woman shook her head and said, "I don't see what Ranma could ever have seen in you..." 

Akane's anger flared. How could this the woman, who came out of nowhere, just insult her like that. Her shock that a woman seemed to know Ranma held her tongue. After all, all the previous people who had come seeking Ranma had been their age. This woman had to be, at least, her father's age, so what could such an old woman want with.... 

"You don't look like ***competition*** to me," the woman continued to say as she gave Akane a second look over. 

"Why you..." Akane exclaimed angrily. 

"Oh, I can wait," the woman said with an smile. "You'll live what... another sixty... seventy... eighty years at the most. As I said, I can wait." 

_//Nani?!?//_ Akane thought. 

"You make sure you keep ***my*** Ranma nice and warm, now, girl," the woman stated. "If not, I'll just ***take*** him back ***earlier***..." 

[=== End of Part 1 ===]  
Replies to Reviews:  


Ketheria
    Yes, there are more parts beyond 7. I am currently working on Part 8 and Part 9, now.
TheNightstalker
    Yep... Finally on FF.net. Ch 7 is up now.
dogbertcarroll
    Thanks. The identity of the "demon/goddess" is shown in Ch 7.  
And she's not alone.


	2. Chapter Two

  
  
  


"A Hell of a Life"  
by Shaule Sachs  
  
= - = Part 2 = - =  
  


= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =  
  
Version 1.1.html.ffnet  
#include ahoal/author_notes.h  
#include mega_crossover/std_disclaimer.h  
#include alternate_universe/std_disclaimer.h  
#include ranma/std_disclaimer.h  


= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =  


Akane Tendo has having a bad day. During lunch that mysterious woman appeared, afterwards, Shampoo, Ukyou, and Kodachi came by demanding to know where Ranma was. Of course, one of Akane's friends had to make a comment about the mysterious woman to them, gleefully mentioning that the woman didn't even mention them in her 'talk' with Akane about Ranma.... 

The end result was a brawl. It started when Shampoo, Ukyou, and Kodachi started arguing about who should get Ranma. Which erupted into actual blows when the heat of the agrument got too much for all four girls. It got even worse when Mouse came by to defend Shampoo, followed by Ryoga, who showed up to defend Akane, and matters really got out of hand when Kuno showed up trying to date with Akane since Ranma wasn't around. The brawl was only stopped when Hinako-sensei sucked the battle-auras out of everyone. Akane liked to think she gave as good as she got. But all she got was a black eye, some bruises, and a torn dress. 

Still the fight did let her vent some of her anger. She had manage to tag both Shampoo and Ukyou during the fight, so the afternoon was not a complete loss. As she approached home, she noticed that something was wrong... 

The house was too quiet as she entered. When she called out that she was home, her father told her to come to the dining room. When she arrived, she was surprised to see Ranma's mother, Nodoka, sitting beside her husband, Genma, who was in human form. There was such sadness in Nodoka's eyes that Akane's knees to begin to buckle. Even before she fully sat down, Akane had to ask, "Ranma's not coming back, is he? He's..." 

Seeing the pain and hurt on Akane's face, Nodoka finished for her by saying, "Dead? No, my son is not dead... Although, it might have been better for him, if he was." 

"Nani?!?!?" exclaimed Akane. "How dare you say that?!?!?!?" 

"Because at the moment, my dear," Nodoka explained gently, "Ranma's in Hell." 

"Hell?" Nabiki responded too quickly. "There's no such thing." 

Eagerly Akane asked, "Then Ranma is alive? How do you know?" 

"Well," Nodoka replied, "I found out this morning...." 

= - = - = - = - = 

Nodoka sighed as she finished cleaning up the dishes from her breakfast. The house was quiet. Some would say too quiet and Nodoka would agree with them. She knew why the house was silent. It was a punishment. A curse... 

Kami-sama was punishing her for the huge ***mistake*** she made when she allowed Genma to take her son, her ***only*** son, ***away*** from her on an extended training trip. That happened ten years, one month, one week, two days, and forty minutes ago. She had been paying for that mistake every moment since, with a quiet house, a cold bed, and no one to truly confide in. 

All her former friends couldn't believe what she had ***done***. They all looked at her with pity and sadness. She tried to explain but her response about honor, duty, and the hope that her son would be a 'man among men' began to sound as hollow as the house after a few years... 

Oh, she made some attempts to locate her husband and son but all she got for her trouble were rumors, pity, and bills. In desperation, she had went to the Tendo Dojo two week ago in hope that Soun Tendo, an old friend of her husband, might know where he and her son was... After all, besides cooking and eating, the other only thing Genma respected was the martial arts. He had trained with Soun for a long time, and they could considered themselves as brothers, even promised their children would on day marry in order to truly unite them. But all she found was her husband and son missing, a tame panda bear, a truly tomboyish girl with red hair, and Soun's three daughters, who needed a mother's firm hand, although the eldest, Kasumi, seemed to be all right, unlike the other two. 

As she headed for the door to spend the day with Kasumi, she noticed two men waiting for her there. The man on the right was a stranger. The man on the left was Master Po, the elderly Shaolin priest from the temple down the street. Nodoka had visited the Shaolin temple a number of times since Genma and Ranma had left her. She found comfort there. In all her time there, she never heard nor seen Master Po leaving his beloved temple, much less associated with strangers... 

As she opened the door, Master Po asked if they could speak with her. Intrigued, she showed her guests into the living room, prepared some tea, and sat down with them. After she and Master Po had exchanged the necessary greeting rituals, Master Po introduced the stranger by saying, "This is Peter Caine [KF2] of the Kwai Chang [KF1] line..." 

The stranger, introduced as Peter, waved his right hand to signal to Master Po that he shouldn't continue. Nodoka thought it was rude of Caine-san not to allow Master Po to properly introduce him. She noticed that there was a brand in the shape of a dragon on his arm. Which confused her since only a Shaolin priest wore the dragon/tiger brands on their arms. This Peter Caine didn't have the look of a Shaolin Priest. 

Peter said simply, "I am Peter Caine. Like my father and his father, I too am a Shaolin priest. And I am here to repay a family debt..." 

"A debt?" Nodoka asked confused. "I don't understand..." 

"Yes, a debt of honor," Peter explained. "You see, your son, Ranma Saotome, helped my great-grandfather, Kwai Chang Caine, when he was in great peril." 

"Nani?!?!?" Nodoka exclaimed. "When was this? How could an old man..." 

With a slight smile Peter replied, "The events I'm about to tell you happened over seventy-five years ago...." 

Nodoka sat there as she listened to Peter Caine tell her how Ranma helped the then-young Shaolin priest Kwai Chang Caine in the American Wild West deal with a gang of bank robbers who were preying on a small home stead... It was too much for her, so she motioned for Caine to stop and said, "While that's an... interesting... story, Caine-san, but my son is only seventeen years old... He... ***I*** wasn't even alive back then..." 

"Yes," Peter replied. "That's part of why I'm here. You see, your son and Happosai --" 

Nodoka waved her hand and said, "Happosai was my husband and Soun Tendo's master in the Martial Arts..." 

"Right," Peter continued. "Last week, Ranma and Happosai fought an Oni..." 

"Nani?!?!?" Nodoka exclaimed. "Oni are only legends..." 

"Oni are real, Saotome-san," Master Po said matter of factly. 

"To make a long story, short," Peter responded, "the Oni took both Ranma and Happosai to its home..." 

Scared, for some unknown reason, Nodoka asked, "And where do Oni live?" 

With a sad smile, Peter replied, "In this case, Hell..." 

"But," Nodoka began to inject. 

"Your son is alive and well, considered where he is," Peter tried to reassure her. "After confronting the demoness who cursed Happosai, they were able to make it to more 'friendly' territory. There, Ranma learned how to travel from one plane to another... Unfortunately, while traveling between planes isn't that difficult, navigating through them is." 

"You mean..." Nodoka asked worriedly. 

"Yes," Peter said seriously. "Ranma is trapped in those other realms... those other time frames... without knowing the way back. But! You can help him..." 

"How?" Nodoka replied. She didn't understand much of what Peter Caine was saying but if she could help her son... 

"Blood calls blood," Master Po answered. 

At Nodoka's confused face, Peter explained, "As Ranma's mother, there is a bond between you and Ranma... a bond of flesh... a bond of blood... We, Master Po and myself, along with you can across the dimensions to them, Ranma and my great-grandfather, to show Ranma the way home." 

"Home... Ranma... home," Nodoka stated to herself. Out loud she said, "Of course, I'll help...." 

Peter nodded his head expecting that answered but he had to add, "There's something else... another reason why we came here." 

"Oh?" Nodoka stated confused... What could be more important than getting Ranma home? 

Gently Peter began, "as we like to think otherwise, there is more to our World than what we can see with just our eyes. There are other worlds... realms... beside this one. But, in all the realms, there is a balance between the two opposing, fundamental forces in the Cosmos, Ying and Yang." 

"Yes, but what does this have to do with my son?" Nodoka asked. A premonition that she would not like the answer settled over her. 

"You required that your son be a 'man among men,' right?" Peter asked, 

"Yes, but," Nodoka began. 

"He succeed," Peter stated matter of factly. 

"I don't see where you are going, Caine-san," Nodoka replied. 

"To be a 'man among men,' means that Yang must be greater than Ying, an imbalance," Peter explained. 

"Yes, but," Nodoka interrupted. 

"The Universe does not like any ***imbalance***. It wishes Ying and yang to be even," Peter continued. "Thus the Universe took steps to correct this ***imbalance*** in your son.... In this case, the Universe led your son and husband to Jusenkyo, 'the land of cursed springs,' where a person who falls into one of its pools ***assumes*** the ***shape*** of whatever drown in that pool." 

A thought, which Nodoka had dismissed, came back. Out loud she said, "How... What do you mean?" 

"It's easier to show you than trying to explain it with words," Master Po said as he took the now-cool tea and dumped its contains over his head. 

Before Nodoka's startled eyes, the old priest changed into a tiger. The priest's robes fell off the priest-turned-tiger as the priest-tiger walked on all fours around Nodoka and then returned to his robes. Peter held his cold cup of tea up, concentrated for a moment, then poured the reheated tea onto the tiger which turned back into Master Po. 

"How?" a wild-eye Nodoka asked 

"When I was young," Master Po said, "I went on a journey through China. Not believing the Jusenkyo Guide, I was not as careful as I should have been. So I fell into the Spring of Drowned Tiger." 

"While fascinating, I fail to see what this has to do with my son," Nodoka stated. 

"As I said, Ranma had an imbalance. The Universe corrected it," Peter repeated. 

"Yes, but," Nodoka once more injected. 

Gently, Peter replied, "The end result was Ranma fell into the Spring of Drowned..." 

"Girl," Nodoka finished for him. "And I had wondered if Genma had had an affair with a Tendo....." 

Seeing that Nodoka had drifted off into thought, Peter reached into his robe and pulled out a crystal which he set between himself and Master Po. Nodding at Master Po, Peter assumed a meditation position facing Master Po, who took up a similar position. 

Nodoka had thought 'Ranko Tendo' looked familiar... After her second visit Nodoka had noticed the similarities between Ranma and Ranko. Her fear was that Ranko had gotten the similar features by being Genma's daughter... Now she realized why Ranko looked so familiar... Ranko looked quite a bit like she did when she was Ranma's age. And she had thought that the reason why Ranko was such as 'tomboy' was because she had such a poor mother... which Nodoka feared was the truth. 

"Even with a woman's body, I'm still a man, Mother," Ranma said. "Always have been." 

Nodoka's eyes snapped open upon hearing her son's voice. There between the two Shaolin Priests sat Ranma in the air. Or at least, it looked like Ranma, if he was blue and transparent. 

Floating in the air between the two priests was a glowing crystal which served as a center for a blue transparent Ranma, who was wearing his Chinese clothes that he usually wore. There was a slight smile on his face as he looked at his mother and said, "Hello, Mother." 

Nodoka could feel her eyes widening in surprise. She whispered, "How? Why?" 

With a chuckle Ranma stated, "I've learned a few things while I was in Hell..." 

With some dread Nodoka asked, "Are... Are you dead?" 

"No," Ranma laughed, "I'm just stuck Between, at the moment." 

"Stuck?" Nodoka wondered. 

"Yeah," Ranma replied. "I don't have anything to point the way home...." 

"But..." Nodoka began. 

Ranma interrupted his mother with, "Yes, there is the love between mother and son... and I do love you, Mother. Blood calls Blood. That's how I got this far... But I need something, ***physical***, from ***this*** Time to get back to the ***proper*** Time Frame..." 

"That something," Peter injected, "must tie your son and you together." 

"The Saotome family sword," Nodoka realized out loud. Since she was preparing to leave, she was carrying the sword on her back as she did whenever she left the house. She reached behind her back, uncovered the sword and passed it onto Ranma without thought. 

When Ranma's ghost hands touched the sword, the sword began to glow the same color as Ranma did. Nodoka absently noted that Ranma's touch was both soothing and warm... like her father's was. After a brief flash, the Saotome family sword became as transparent as Ranma. 

"Thank you, Mother," Ranma said heart-fully. "I hope I'll make you proud..." 

With that the ghost of Ranma disappeared. 

"Ranma-chan," Nodoka cried at seeing her son disappear. Master Po took Nodoka into his arms until she regained control over herself. 

Once she was more composed, Nodoka asked Peter about what he knew of Ranma. Peter told her about how Ranma had also helped his father when he was Peter's age and what he knew about Ranma's life before these events befall him. He told her about Ukyou, the Neko-ken, Jusenkyo -- mention that Genma turned into a panda, Shampoo, and about his love and forced engagement with Akane Tendo. 

When Peter finished, Nodoka excused herself, got a thermos filled with hot water, and said, "You understand... I have to check ***this*** for myself..." 

Peter and Master Po just nodded as Nodoka headed towards the Tendo Dojo. 

= - = - = - = - = 

Akane smiled when Nodoka said that Ranma loved her... and she loved the Baka too. After Nodoka finished, Akane asked, "So when will Ranma be home?" 

"I don't know, Akane," Nodoka replied. "As I understand it, the sword will only point Ranma in the right direction. He will have to find the natural bridges that connect the various realms together on his own. Caine-san called them, 'portals' and 'gateways,' and some of them must be used in the certain order..." 

"Certain order, Auntie?" Nabiki asked intrigued. "What happens if Ranma doesn't..." 

Akane shot her sister a dirty look and quickly waited for Nodoka's answer which was, "According to Caine-san, these 'bridges' not only connect between here and there, but between the Past and the Future..." 

"The Future?" Nabiki exclaimed as she thought of what she could do with the money she could make if she knew the Future. 

"Yes, and the Past," Nodoka stated. "That's how Ranma was able to help Caine-san's family. Ranma will have to go through a number of 'bridges,' some which connect to the Past others to the Future, in order to get home." 

"So it's just a question of time," Akane stated out loud. To herself she thought, //_Of when ***my***Ranma will come back to ***me.***_// 

[=== End of Part 2 ===]  


* * *

Appendix: Kung Fu Series  


[KF1]
    

_Kung Fu_ (The Original Series)
    Characters Used:  
Kwai Chang Caine and Master Po (name-sake)
    _Kung Fu_ (The Original Series) Episode Guide  
  

    **Note**: The character in this story "Master Po" is in honor of similar character in the Original Series of Kung Fu.  

    **Series Overview**: The time is the 1870s. The place is the American Southwest and, in flashbacks, China. The stories follow Kwai Chang Caine, a half-Chinese, half- American Shaolin priest, an expert in the ancient Chinese art of Kung Fu ("It is said a Shaolin priest can walk through walls. Looked for, he cannot be seen. Listened for, he cannot be heard. Touched, he cannot be felt."). Caine had been raised/trained mostly by Master Kan and Master Po at the Shaolin Temple in the Honon Province of China. But he had to leave the country after killing the Emperor's nephew (who had shot and killed Master Po).   

[KF2] 
    

_Kung Fu: The Legend Continues_
    Characters Used:  
Kwai Chang Caine and Peter Caine. 
    _Kung Fu: The Legend Continues_ Online FAQ 
    **Series Premise**:  
Kwai Chang Caine is the Temple Master of a Shaolin Temple where he raises his son, Peter, there. (Peter's mother died when Peter was very young.) For revenge against the Caine family, an "evil force" destroyed that temple. Father and son each believed the other had perished. Peter Caine became a cop and Kwai Chang Caine wondered around America. Fifteen years after the temple's destruction they were reunited in the series pilot episode. 

[=== End of Appendix: Kung Fu Series ===]  
Replies to Reviews:  


dogbertcarroll
    I'm glad you like it.


	3. Chapter Three

  
  
  


"A Hell of a Life"  
by Shaule Sachs  
  
= - = Part 3 = - =  


  


= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =  
Version 1.1.html.ffnet  
#include ahoal/author_notes.h  
#include mega_crossover/std_disclaimer.h  
#include alternate_universe/std_disclaimer.h  
#include ranma/std_disclaimer.h  


= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =  


Within a universe, the Flow of Time moves on no matter what happens. And yet, there are areas that seem as if Time had never touched them. One such magical place was a little park, just outside of Tokyo. Both tourists and natives came to this park on a regular basis. Each person left with the feeling that the park was Blessed or had some special Favor with one of the kami... 

If you asked anyone, they would have agreed that it was a very 'magical place.' 

And on this night, it truly was. 

The first sign that something different was going to happen was the appearance of a blue circle that was two meters tall. It seemed to swirl from the center outward like a reversed whirlpool. The odd thing about the circle was one could only see it head-on. If you looked from behind or the sides you wouldn't see it. The circle continued to swirl for a few moments, as if waiting for something. 

A hand reached out from the swirling energy followed by an arm attached to a man. The man, human, five feet, nine inches tall, black hair in a pony-tail, looked around. His blue eyes seemed wary and tired, yet, he moved like a dancer... with grace, pose, and ease. His eyes took in everything, missing nothing. He seemed to taste the very air. He smiled. His waved his right hand at the circle and it shrank until it was a mere dot, after which it simply vanished. With one last look around, the man sat down to meditate and wait for the dawn. 

= - = - = - = 

The dawn came and with it various people began to enter the park. A young American girl noticed a man was sitting on the grass in a weird position. Curious, she went over and asked in English, "Whacha' doing, Mister?" 

The man answered her in English, "I'm mediating." 

"Why?" the toddler asked. 

"Ah, that is a good question," the man answered. "I meditate to relax... to think... to ponder..." 

"Why?" the toddler asked again. 

The man simply shrugged his shoulders and smiled at the girl. 

"Mindy!" an older woman called to the child. She was obviously the child's mother. She apologized to the man as she picked up her daughter. 

As Mindy was leaving she said to the man, "Okay. I love you. Bye-Bye." 

The man smiled. 

After watching Mindy and her mother leave the park, the man got up, brushed his clothes, straightened the large pouch he was carrying on his side, and walked towards the Nerima Ward. 

= - = - = - = 

As the man walked through the city, he smiled and said hello to the various people he passed. Although busy, most people would return the man's warm and friendly greetings and then continued what they were doing, feeling slightly better about themselves afterwards. 

As the man got closer to Nerima, the man's smile grew until he was just outside the gates of Furinkan High School. Hesitating only for a millisecond, the man walked into Furinkan High's school yard. The various students who were waiting for the bell stopped talking as the man walked in. Each and every one looked like they've seen a ghost. The man smiled and continued on. 

= - = - = - = 

"SAOTOME!" Kuno screamed as he charged the man. "You dare to show your face..." 

The student body blinked and Kuno was face-first in the dirt, knocked-out. 

One moment Kuno was charging and screaming and then next... he was unconscious on the ground face down. Everyone was amazed and in shock. For a few moments, Furinkan High School was absolutely quiet, only the sounding of the school bell brought the students back to life as they ran to their homerooms. 

= - = - = - = 

Ranma sighed and continued on his way. He had only defend himself when he realized that Kuno was going to try to harm him. //_Saotome, he called me,_// the thought flashed through his mind. //_Am I Saotome Ranma? Or just Ranma, as I call myself now. Does it matter?_// 

As the thought went around in his head, he arrived upon his destination. He couldn't help but feel slightly betrayed by the World.... After everything that had happened to him, the World could have at least changed his homeroom slightly... But no, once more the World proved that It didn't care about Ranma by leaving the room exactly as he last saw it so many millennia had passed... Still he was there... why he wasn't sure... nor did he care... So he simply shrugged, sat down in his seat, and closed his eyes to meditate. 

He felt each person's ki as he or she entered the room and sat down at their assigned seat. He smiled slightly as he noted Akane entered the room and sat behind him. It was then that he realized that he had made himself blend into the background causing most people not to notice him. He had done it simply out of habit.... A habit that had saved his life a number of times. 

It shouldn't have, but Ranma got a small thrill as everyone gasped when he said 'present' when his name was called for attendance. Without looking he could tell that everyone was surprised to see him. He could feel Akane's glare on his back as well as the look of wonderment on Ucchan's face. 

Class went on as normal. During the breaks between subjects, various students tried to ask him questions but Ranma simply gave them all a 'Look' that made them return to their seats. 

= - = - = - = 

Before English Class, with only a small amount of anger in her voice Akane asked quietly, "Where have you ***been*** for the last month?" 

"A month?!?!?" Ranma exclaimed quietly as he turned to face Akane. "I've been gone only for a ***month***?!?!?" 

A number of students, including Ukyou, turned and looked at Ranma wondering about his statement that he had only been gone a month. //_Maybe less time as pass for Ranchan_,// Ukyou hoped. 

All the students leaned in their seats to try to hear what Ranma and Akane were talking about but they couldn't. Surprisingly, although they see Akane and Ranma's mouths were moving, no one could hear anything. It was if they were watching a television show without any sound. 

Slightly worried Akane replied, "Yes! So where have you ***been***?" 

Ranma laughed and answered, "Hell.... Heaven.... and a number of Universes inbetween..." 

"Nani?!?!?" exclaimed Akane. 

Ranma began with, "After fighting George..." 

"Who's George?" Akane interrupted. 

"George was the Oni that brought Happosai-sensei and I to Hell," Ranma calmly answered. "George lead us to the Demon Queen Abere, who had cursed Happosai-sensei into becoming the pervert we knew. There we fought her for six months after which we spent our time trying to get back..." 

= - = - = - = 

As Ranma was talking, Hinako-chan-sensei skipped into the room, looked at the clock, and called the class to begin. Giving up on trying to overhear Ranma and Akane conversion, the class (minus Ranma and Akane) sat forward, brought their English books out, and awaited for Hinako-sensei to begin the day's assignment. 

Seeing that Ranma wasn't paying an attention to her, Hinako-chan-sensei tried to get his attention by saying, "Saotome!" 

After spending a few moments trying to get Ranma's attention, Hinako-chan-sensei took out a five yen coin and said, "Happo Goju-en Satsu." 

The class watched as Hina-chan-sensei began to suck the ki out of Ranma.... Even after few moments Ranma didn't seem to be affected. In fact, his ki seemed to change color from the normal blue to a brilliant white. A grayish-color glow began to envelop Hinako-chan-sensei. As she became an adult, a glow began to surround her completely all the while Ranma continued to talk to Akane. As the glow moved from a light bluish color to an off-white, the bell rang signaling the beginning of class. When the bell stopped ringing, Hinako-sensei stopped glowing. At which point, Ranma turned around, got his English book out of his desk, and said in English, "Shall we begin?" 

Hinako-sensei shook her head slightly as if to clear it, then nodded at Ranma saying, "Hai.... Today we will look at page eighty-six..." 

= - = - = - = 

As English class went on, the class watched Hinako-sensei to see when she would change back into her child-form, only she didn't change for the entire class period. Even more surprising, Ranma actually participated in the class, mostly though to correct Hinako-sensei, who still was slightly dazed, accepted his corrections without comment. 

When the class period was over, Hinako-sensei walked out of the classroom in such a way that it was obvious she was avoiding Ranma. The rest of the morning went uneventful. 

= - = - = - = 

At lunch, Ranma and Akane sat under a tree. They sat quietly as Akane ate her lunch. 

After almost finishing her lunch, Akane noted that Ranma didn't seem to have anything with him to eat. Just as she was about to offer what remained of her lunch, Ranma asked, "Would you like an orange?" 

"Huh?" Akane asked puzzled. 

From his pouch Ranma took a large orange out, peeled it, and handed half to Akane saying, "They're good..." 

And he was right, the orange Ranma gave her was the sweetest, juiciest orange she ever had. It was larger than any orange Akane had seen before. Most oranges she had previously were only the size of a tennis ball, but the orange Ranma handed to her was the size of a large softball. After swiping the juices from her face with the napkin Ranma gave her Akane asked, "Ranma? Where did you get the orange?" 

"An old friend of mine once quoted to me an adage he had learn from an old friend of his... 'Things are never so bad if you have an orange on hand,'" Ranma replied absently. 

Curious, Akane asked, "An old friend?" 

"His name was Pug[RW]," Ranma answered. "I met him in my Travels..." 

Akane could hear the capital 'T' and wondered how long it took Ranma to return... 

Akane was startled when Ranma began to answer her question that she didn't realized she had asked out loud with, "Whose to say? There is no Flow of Time between the Worlds and each Realm has it's own Flow... And as I told you, I've been to a number of Realms..." 

= - = - = - = 

The rest of the school day went uneventful until World History class. The class had an exam that day. Although he had missed the last month worth of class, Ranma didn't complain about taking the test much to the surprise of everyone. Equally surprising, Ranma was the first to finish the exam. At which point he closed his eyes and sat still for the remaining of the period. To which both Ukyou and Akane wore worried expressions on their faces... 

Both Ukyou and Akane had the same incredible thought, //_Ranma! Sitting still for more than a minute_?!?!?!// 

After World History class, things went as they usually did. Except when the instructor called on Ranma... No matter what question was asked, Ranma had an answer, sometimes vague and sometimes very detailed, not once did he give his 'usual' answer of 'Huh' or 'I don't know.' 

When the final bell of the day rang, Ranma was the first person out the door. Both Akane and Ukyou were miffed at Ranma's disappearance until they both noticed that there was note laying on each of their desks. Each note had their respective names on it in a perfectly stylized Kanji... too perfect for Ranma's sloppy handwriting that they knew and yet... somehow, it was obviously Ranma's handwriting. 

Akane's note said that Ranma had to do something and then he would meet her at home. It was signed 'Love, Ranma." 

Something in Akane's heart melted... 

= - = - = - = 

Nabiki was puzzled and she didn't like that. The school gossip said that Ranma was back. Not only was he back but he had defeated Kuno so fast, no one knew how he had done it. 

Usually, after one of Kuno's defeats, he would skulk for the rest of the day vowed vengeance on 'that evil sorcerer Saotome.' But today, he was positively beaming with joy. Unlike his usual rude remarks to his fellow students, Kuno was being pleasant to everyone. When she asked why he was so happy, Kuno started to say something but then uncharacteristically he would close his mouth without saying anything and he would dramatically hold his heart in his hands. No matter what she did, Kuno wouldn't tell her what was going on. 

Curious, Nabiki followed Kuno around school. During lunch, she realized that some point previously, Kuno had gotten a note. When he could have gotten it, she didn't know. She had been watching him since homeroom and no one had approached him during that time. More importantly, despite her best efforts, she couldn't find out what was written in the note. Kuno guarded it too well. 

When the final bell rang, she followed Kuno to the clearing in the trees near the school. With a start, she realized it was the same clearing that Kuno had first met his 'Tree-Borne Kettle-Girl,' also known as his 'Pigtail Goddess,' and known to everyone but Kuno as Saotome Ranma. 

As if the thought had summoned her, onna-Ranma came walking into the clearing. As Nabiki looked on she noticed there were some changes in Ranma aside from the fact that he was in his cursed form. Gone was the pigtail that was Ranma's trademark. Onna-Ranma's hair was long, flowing and obviously styled. There was a 'sway' to onna-Ranma's walked. Onna-Ranma was wearing a dress, a peasant's dress with dirt stains, but a dress nonetheless. If Nabiki didn't know better, she would have swore onna-Ranma was a real, young woman and always had been. 

Kuno rushed to onna-Ranma and hugged her. To Nabiki's surprise onna-Ranma melted into Kuno's brace. So shocked was she that she almost missed Kuno speech about how he had awaited this day. Kuno concluded with, "Now, you're free, my pigtail goddess." 

Onna-Ranma laughed. She stopped laughing suddenly and her features took on a very serious expression. In a formal voice, she said, "Yes... I'm free now. Therefore I must warn you, Kuno-kizoku." 

"Warn me?" Kuno asked confused. It was only now that he noticed the peasant dress on onna-Ranma. Upon seeing it, he took an unconscious step back. 

"Yes, warn you," onna-Ranma repeated. 

"About what?" Kuno asked bewildered. 

"See! It is as I feared," onna-Ranma answered. 

When Kuno didn't say anything, onna-Ranma continued sadly, "You don't understand...." 

Kuno shouted, "Understand what?" 

In a low voice onna-Ranma said, "That we can never be together..." 

"Nani!?!?" Kuno cried. 

"You must think of your Family!" onna-Ranma replied. "You must think of your Honor!" 

"What about my family?" Kuno asked puzzled. 

Onna-Ranma sighed and said, "Are you not, Tatewaki of the House Kuno.... Are you not, Kuno, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High?" 

Both Nabiki and Kuno were puzzled as to where onna-Ranma was going. Confused Kuno replied, "Yes..." 

"And what of I?" onna-Ranma asked. "I'm simply Tendo Ranko... I have no House. I have no title..." 

Frustrated onna-Ranma sighed again and asked, "Don't you see?" 

Nabiki was shocked. She saw where Ranma was going now and wished she thought of it. She also noted that Kuno was beginning to get an idea where Ranma was heading but he seemed to refuse to believe it. 

In a gentle voice, onna-Ranma said, "You're nobility... I'm nothing. You cannot marry below your station." 

"But I love..." Kuno began but onna-Ranma interrupted him with, "Love... Is a good thing. But it doesn't pay the bill when your father disowns you. When society rejects you. To marry me, will disgrace your family. Can you truly inflict such a scandal on your family name... Will you dishonor your ancestors in such a matter?" 

"But..." Kuno kept repeating as he took another step away. 

"Yes, the World is not fair," onna-Ranma continued on. "If it was fair... where's the challenge? We must overcome our temptation. We must rise above ourselves and honor our ancestors." 

"But..." Kuno repeated his mantra even as he took yet another step away from onna-Ranma. 

"No, we must be strong and fight our temptation," onna-Ranma said. "I'm sorry to lead you on, but what choice had I? Now that I'm free I can tell you the truth of the Sorcerer's plan to destroy you and your family. But we won't let Him destroy such a noble House as the House Kuno, shall we." 

Filled with despair Kuno sighed and said, "No! You are right... The spells that evil Sorcerer Sao--" 

"Don't say his name," onna-Ranma implored. "Don't invoke his name.... He will Hear and come for me..." 

"But I'll protect you," Kuno began. 

Onna-Ranma just snorted and said sarcastically, "Like you've done in the past?" 

In a more gentle voice, onna-Ranma continued, "No... It is best if you forget all about me... and the Sorcerer. You must go on with your life. Haven't you heard, the best revenge is to live the best. No matter what, he will remain a mere sorcerer... But you! You are of noble blood. You will go on and fulfill your noble purpose. Go! You must go on... All I ask is that you think of me fondly." 

= - = - = - = 

With that Kuno turned and walked away. Once he was out of ear-shot onna-Ranma laughed and said, "What a sap." 

Looking towards Nabiki's hiding place she said, "You can come out now, Nabiki-chan." 

Startled, Nabiki fell from the tree she was hiding behind. Dazed, she walked over to onna-Ranma, who was lifting her dress over head revealing the red Chinese outfit that Ranma normally wore. After removing the dress, onna-Ranma gently folded the dress and placed it within a large pouch she was wearing on her side. 

Nabiki had a thousand questions she wished to ask onna-Ranma but she was unable to voice them due to shock. What's more, she looked away only for a few moments but when she turned back towards Ranma, onna-Ranma was now male and he had one of his rare smiles on his face. It was the type of smile that made even Nabiki's knees weak. 

Ranma saved her from fainted by taking her arm and asked, "Shall we go?" 

The journey home for Nabiki was interesting.... 

= - = - = - = 

"I'm home!" Akane said happily as she walked in. 

Kasumi noted the smile on Akane's face and felt herself reflect that smile back at Akane. She knew, if she was patient enough, Akane would tell her why she was so happy. 

Kasumi didn't have to wait long, Akane burst out, "Ranma's back!" 

"That's nice, dear," Kasumi said motherly. 

"To celebrate... I'm going to make Ranma dinner," Akane said proudly. 

"Ummm," Kasumi began, not knowing how best to put it. Kasumi sighed and continued, "Let me help you..." 

"I can do ***it***," Akane replied defensively. 

Wisely Kasumi said, "Yes, dear, but dinner is only a few hours away... If I help, it'll take only half the time...." 

Somewhat reluctantly, Akane agreed. 

= - = - = - = 

"I'm home," Nabiki stated as she and Ranma walked through the door. Upon seeing that there was no one to greet them, Nabiki asked rhetorically, "Where is everyone?" 

Ranma answered, "Kasumi and Akane are in the kitchen and your father is with my parents in the dining room." 

Ranma had answered with such conviction that, although she had been with Ranma since they left the school grounds, she believed him. Besides, knowing where everyone was, was a small thing after the events she had just saw. 

"I'll be in the Dojo until dinner," Ranma said as he headed there. Nabiki headed to her room. 

= - = - = - = 

Hesitantly, Akane entered Nabiki's room. She saw her sister at her desk looking over some book. Nabiki was muttering something too softly for her to hear. 

Although she wondered what Nabiki was saying, she interrupted her sister by asking, "Where's Ranma?" 

Nabiki's eye blinked and she had a lost look on her face. After shaking her head, Nabiki replied, "Oh... He's in the Dojo." 

"Thanks," Akane said as she headed there. On her way out, she thought she heard Nabiki sigh and ask, "How did they do that?" 

= - = - = - = 

As Akane entered the Dojo she saw Ranma performing some kind of kata. Or, at least, she thought it was a kata. There didn't seem to be a pattern to it. As always, Ranma made the martial arts look both easy and graceful. Akane could have stayed there watching Ranma all day long, in fact she had stood still for the last twenty minutes, but she could dimly hear her sisters wondering where Akane and Ranma were so she said, "Ranma... Dinner's ready." 

"Okay," Ranma replied. "I'll be right there.... Have to wash up." 

"Okay," Akane responded. She turned around and headed back to the dining room. 

Both Kasumi and Nabiki were already seated at the table. Upon seeing Akane but not Ranma, Kasumi asked, "Where's Ranma?" 

With a slight surprise in her voice, Akane answered, "He's washing up...." 

"Ranma? Washing without being told to?" Nabiki asked in wonder. Looking pointy at Akane, she asked, "Are you sure this is ***our*** Ranma?" 

Akane bit her lip, shrugged, and told her sisters about everything that happened in school. 

"That doesn't sound like Ranma," Nabiki began. 

Kasumi responded with, "Sounds like he's finally matured. Being in Hell does that to a person." 

Both Akane and Nabiki looked startled at Kasumi. But before either could pursue Kasumi's statement, Ranma came in and sat down next to Akane. 

As Kasumi served everyone, Nabiki couldn't help but stare at the food. One look at it and she knew her younger sister had helped in cooking it. She could tell by the unnatural colonization of the meal... 

Akane waited patiently (at least for her) for Ranma to taste her meal. After ten seconds (a new record), she demanded, "Well?" 

Without hesitation, Ranma used the chop sticks to pick a small piece of something no longer identifiable and placed it in his mouth. He chewed it for a few moments, paused, and chewed it some more. 

Angrily Akane shouted, "Ranma!" 

Ranma paused a moment and said, "Well..." 

Akane leaned closer to Ranma and began to say, "Ran--" 

"I suppose now would be as good a time as any for presents," Ranma said cutting Akane off. 

"Presents?" both Akane and Nabiki asked happily. A smile of fond memories appreared on their faces. 

Nodding, Ranma said, "Yep... I had some time while I was in some of the Worlds I had been to.... When I saw these items I just had to get them for you all..." 

Reaching into his pouch, Ranma pulled something out and handed it to Kasumi saying, "For you...." 

Kasumi stared at the object Ranma had just handed to her. She thought the object was made of crystal, but she didn't think crystal had that many shades of red. The oval base resembled a bird's nest. With a start, she realized that the nest was on fire. Whoever the artist was, this masterpiece had somehow captured the flames as they seemed to leap out of the nest. The largest flame, located in the center, shooting straight up, seemed to change into a bird with its wing expanded as if it was launching itself into the air. 

So intent was Kasumi on the art work, Ranma's voice startled her as he said, "It's a phoenix rising from its pyre of flames." 

Kasumi could only nod and said, "Thank you." 

Taking the art work, Kasumi headed to her room with a tear in her eye. 

Nabiki and Akane watched their older sister leave, Nabiki became nervous. She turned to Ranma who was giving her something. It was a statuette of a dragon on a hill of some kind. The hill, upon closer inspection, was made up of various colored pebbles. With a start, she realized that the red pebbles were rubies, the white ones were diamonds, the gold ones were gold coins, the blue ones were sapphires, and there were many other precious gems present as well. She had to wonder how the artist got such detail into the statuette that fit into her hand and was only fifteen centimeters tall. As she headed for her room, Nabiki held the statuette to heart. 

Akane watched her older sister, Nabiki, walk away with her gift. Akane had saw the tear in Kasumi's eye and wondered where it had come from... Nor did she understand why Ranma gave a sculpture of a phoenix to Kasumi. She thought she understood why the statuette of a female dragon sitting on her horde reminded him of Nabiki but she didn't think it made such as good gift as Nabiki seemed to think. She waited patiently as Ranma watched Kasumi and Nabiki's departure. 

After a few moments, Akane demanded, "Where's my present?" 

"Huh?" Ranma asked confused. 

"Baka!" Akane screamed. "You gave my sisters... something. But you don't have anything for ***me***?" 

Ranma's response was simply a frown on his face. Sighing, he reached into his pouch and held up a statuette and a gift-wrapped book, both of which Akane grabbed and walked away from him. 

Once safely in her domain, Akane looked at the gifts. The statuette was a tigress with her front, left paw out as if striking something. As Akane unwrapped the book, she saw the title and her eyes narrowed even more. 

The title of the book was 'Seeko's Guide to Cooking for the Culinary Challenged.' 

[=== End Part 3 ===]  


[=== Glossary ===]  


Baka
    "Idiot", "Stupid"
-chan
    "little" (when added to a name it is a sign of affection, usually used only with children and girls)
Dojo
    A training hall
Iinazuke
    Fiancee
Kami
    A god, demon, or spirit
Kami-sama
    Head god
Kanabo
    A large spiked iron bar
Kanji
    Chinese characters used in Japanese writing
Kata
    Form (martial arts)
Ki
    Spirit; soul; life force
-kizoku
    Nobility
Nani
    What
Neko
    Cat
Okaasan
    Mother
Oneesan
    Older sister
Oni
    Devil, Orge
Onna
    female
-sama
    "Sir; Madam" (formal) (sign of respect)
-san
    "Mister; Miss"
-sensei
    "Teacher; Master" (title used when speaking of or to members of certain professions (lawyers, doctors, etc)
Shogi 
    Japanese chess
[=== End of Glossary ===]  
  
[=== Appendix: Riftwar Saga ===]  


[RW]
    

_Riftwar Saga_
    Created by Raymond Feist 
    Characters Used  
Pug and Nakor 
[=== End of Appendix: Riftwar Saga ===]  
Replies to Reviews:

dogbertcarrol
    It's not formatting, it's ffnet's html interpretation of as html code, instead of my foreign language.  
As for getting rid of Kuno, I thought it was obvious :)  
The "gifts" have a role yet to play as shown in next part and Ch 8... possiblly further.


	4. Chapter Four

  
  


"A Hell of a Life"  
by Shaule Sachs  
  
= - = Part 4 = - =  
  


= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =  
Version 1.1.html.ffnet  
#include ahoal/author_notes.h  
#include mega_crossover/std_disclaimer.h  
#include alternate_universe/std_disclaimer.h  
#include ranma/std_disclaimer.h  


= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =  


Ranma finished cleaning up the dining room and kitchen from Akane's attempt at making dinner that night. //_Amazing_//, he thought with a frown, //_even with Kasumi's help, she still botched it. One might think that she was a bad a cook as Minako-chan was. But... Nah._// 

Ranma felt a little guilt at what he had done, but he justified the sleep spell by thinking it was the best for everyone involved. //_Besides they all looked like they could use a little dreamless sleep_.// 

He took a container with bio-hazard warning labels on it from his pouch and placed Akane's attempt at dinner into it. The container glowed an angry red color for a few moments. Once the glow disappeared he walked out of the house to run a few errands. 

While he was out, he made a few phone calls using different public booths. He chuckled at his own paranoia in doing that. The rational part of his mind reminded him, //_But it's not being paranoid, if someone is really after you...._// 

Of course, the 'people' after him won't even brother trying to such a primitive method to find him by tracing the phone calls he was making, yet being cautious can make things simpler and healthier for everyone involved. 

He returned to the quiet Tendo household and checked in on the girls. He saw with his mind's eye that each of them were fast asleep in their beds with the statuettes he had given them placed nearby. He noted with a nod that when the moonlight illuminated the statues they glowed for a moment, a faint reddish-orange light, just as they were designed to do. 

He then headed back to the Dojo to continue the kata Akane and 'dinner' had interrupted. He could sense the magic in the statuettes activate and a small, sad smile appeared on his face as he thought of the statuettes that he had given the girls. //_It's for the best_,// he thought. //_They could use the companionship, if nothing else. Besides, what's done, is done_,// he answered himself. A small part of himself noted the absence of magic countered, //_Or is it_?// 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*  


In Kasumi's room, the statuette of a phoenix rising from its funeral pyre began to glow a light bluish color that radiated from the outside in. The glow seems to gather within the pyre itself. There, it condensed and changed. Over the next five hours, the glow changed colors as if marking the passage of time. After the first hour passed, it changed from blue to green, the next hour from green to yellow, then yellow to orange, and finally, from orange to red. The red, a bright rosy color, changed to a fierce burning red. If someone was awake at that moment, they would have thought that the crystal pyre was a real-life, burning pyre. But only Ranma was awake and he was in the Dojo. The glow from the statuette reflected solely on Kasumi herself. As the light changed, the expression on Kasumi's face changed. 

= - = - = - =

Kasumi looked around herself. Everything seemed so... big! She couldn't understand it. //_What had happened_?// she wondered. Something made her look down at herself and then at her environment. In a nearby mirror, Kasumi saw herself. The reflection showed a little girl. She was wearing a yellow dress. It hung loosely on her small frame. The girl couldn't be more than five years old and yet the reflection was hers. Kasumi also noticed that in the little girl's right hand -- her hand -- was a cookie-cutter. To her right, she heard a three year old girl crying.... She turned towards the source, half-awed, half-fearful to find a young Nabiki crying. Kasumi's first instinct was to go to her sister and try to comfort her but before she could, Nabiki was lifted off the ground. She watched amazed as a woman, her mother, Kimiko Tendo, cuddled Nabiki to her bosom. Even knowing what was coming and trying to brace herself for it, she still felt cut to the quick as her mother frowned at her and said in a sad voice, "Kasumi-chan...." "But she would have cut herself, Okaasan," Kasumi-chan replied in order to defend herself. Her mother sighed and said, "You don't know that." "But you said..." Kasumi-chan began. "I said, 'to be careful,'" her mother finished for her. "There are certain things one must learn for oneself. Simply being told something, isn't always enough." 

"But she would have ***hurt*** herself," Kasumi-chan explained. "Kasumi-chan," her mother began. "While it's good that you are looking out for your sister..." "I'm the oldest," Kasumi-chan said proudly. "Yes, Kasumi-chan," her mother continue, "And you should look after your sisters..." "Because, I'm the oldest," Kasumi-chan repeated just as proudly a second time. She liked being the oldest, the other two were too young to help Mother, but she was the oldest so it did not matter how old actually she was. She loved helping her mother. "Yes." Kimiko sighed. "But there comes a time when you must let others do for themselves..." 

"But, Okaasan," Kasumi-chan said confused. She interrupted her mother and asked, "You said, as eldest, I had to look after them..." 

"Yes, Kasumi-chan," Kimiko answered. "But only at certain times... You must live your own life, too, Kasumi-chan." 

"But," Kasumi-chan protested. 

"Someday," her mother continued. "You will find a nice young gentleman... and settle down with him..." 

"Settle down?" Kasumi-chan asked in confusion. "Down where?" 

Kimiko smiled down at her eldest child and said, "All in good time, Kasumi-chan. All in good time." 

= - = - = - =

"Okaasan!" eight year old Kasumi-chan exclaimed as she tried to show her mother the picture she drew but her mother was talking to some woman Kasumi never saw before. 

"Hello, there," a woman with a kind face greeted her. 

"Hello," Kasumi-chan responded not knowing what to call her mother's friend but trying to be polite as her mother had taught her. 

"She looks just like you, Kimiko-chan," the woman replied to Kasumi's mother. 

Kimiko smiled at both of them, although Kasumi felt it was directed solely at her, and said, "Yes, Nozomi-chan, I think you are right. Kasumi-chan does look like I did at that age..." 

"And what do you want to be when you grow up, Kasumi-chan?" Nozomi asked her. 

"A grown-up!" Kasumi-chan replied with a giggle. Seeing that the adults didn't get the joke, she continued, "A doctor... so I can help people!" 

"That's a wonderful thing to be," came the reply from both adults. 

Kimiko smiled at her child as she says to Nozomi, "Yes, I think Kasumi-chan would make a great doctor... She's so caring when she helps me with her younger sisters." 

= - = - = - =

"Kasumi-chan..." her mother began then coughed. "Kasumi-chan..." 

"Hai," nine year old Kasumi responded. 

"Please, look after your sisters for me," Kimiko said. 

With tears in her eyes, Kasumi answered, "Hai, Okaasan." 

"But remember... you only have to look after them until they can take care of themselves," Kimiko continued. Images of an elderly Kasumi slaving away in the kitchen came to Kimiko's mind. "Don't let them become dependent on you... They need to grow up too." 

Kimiko Tendo smiled at her mature, young daughter as Soun took her out of her room as the doctors prepared her for her operation. She didn't think she would survive it... and she didn't. 

= - = - = - =

//_Tonight going to be perfect_,// Kasumi-chan thought. She had found her mother's recipes and tonight she felt she had finally gotten it right after three months of trying. She hoped that tonight her father won't start crying when he tastes her cooking instead of her mother's. 

= - = - = - =

"This house is a ***mess***!" Kasumi-chan exclaimed as she got home from school. Sighing, Kasumi began to clean the house. After a while, she remembered a song that her mother used to sing as she cleaned up... so Kasumi-chan began to sing it as well. 

= - = - = - =

As parts of Kasumi's life passed before her, she realized she had done the very thing that her mother didn't want her to do.... The others had become dependent on her... and truth be told, she had become dependent upon them. Instead of accepting the fact that Kimiko Tendo was dead, Soun and his daughters simply had Kasumi fill the role like some mid-season replacement actress in a television series. 

In trying to replace their mother, Kasumi had lost her own identity. Too focused on trying to keep the household as it was when her mother was alive, Kasumi had lost Tofu-sensei.... She had allowed him to leave without expressing their feelings. And the worse part was she allowed everything to happen just the way it did... Although, for the life of her. She still couldn't see how things could have been different.... 

= - = - = - =

When Kasumi woke up she dimly noted that the statuette that Ranma had given to her was dimmer as if some of the color had been drained out. 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*  


Once Nabiki got to her room, she closed her door and placed her statuette on her desk. After changing into her sleepwear, she sat at her desk and examined the statuette more closely to determine if her original thought about it was true.... And it was. The dragon appeared to be made out of gold and the dragon's horde was actual jewels and precious gems in miniature. She didn't know what Ranma had paid for the statuette but she had to guess that it must have been a small fortune. 

Nabiki leaned back in her chair and asked herself, //_Where did Ranma-kun get the money_?// 

As she contemplated this thought, another struck her as the moonlight fell on the statuette. //_It's beautiful.... So realistic...._// 

She sighed and said out loud, "As if *dragons* actually existed.... Sure, boys can turn into girls... men into panda.... And maybe, Gosunkugi can fly and light candles with some help from Ranma-kun.... But... over-grown lizards that breathe fire.... Besides, where could they hide?" 

With that thought, she headed to bed. She climbed into bed, adjusted her sheets to her liking and then fell asleep. 

= - = - = - =

After bathing in the moonlight for some time, the statuette glowed a faint blue. The blue glow then seemed to shift to a light green color. The light green into a bright yellow which seemed to deepen into the same color as the dragon. The glow, now the same color as the statuette, seemed to flicker for a moment and then it faded. The small dragon, itself or rather herself, began to vibrate slightly. The vibration continued until two long bat-like wings stretched out. Each wing was as wide as the dragon herself was long. After flapping her wings for a moment as if awaken from a long sleep, the dragon lifted herself off her horde and flew about the room. The little dragon examined everything she could and finally stopped to stare at Nabiki's face after landing gentle on her stomach. The dragon spent a few moments studying Nabiki's face, ending with her snout touching Nabiki's nose. The dragon pulled her face away then nodded to herself. Then settle down, resting on Nabiki's stomach. 

= - = - = - =

Nabiki was dreaming. She knew that but that information didn't seem to help her. She wanted to wake up but she couldn't. So, she did the best she could. She just sat there, completely naked, in her classroom as the instructor talked about algebra... 

She didn't know if she should laugh or cry. Here she was in her 'birthday suit' and not one of her classmates looked at her. None of the girls were embarrassed for her nor did any of the guys look took any interested in her. 

Knowing it was just dream, Nabiki decided to to flirt with the guys and make suggestive nude poses. She got a few guys attention -- they would see her naked chest, their eyes would widen in surprise with a small amount of drool escaping their mouths, and with a slight flush to their face they would look up into her eyes -- and then run screaming out of the classroom. 

The worse part was the girls would follow the screaming boy with their eyes and once out of the class, they would nod their heads in understanding. 

She couldn't understand it. She wasn't that bad looking... was she? Sure she didn't have onna-Ranma's figure which caused a number of boys, who knew about Ranma's curse, to turn their heads nor did she seem to attract men like Akane did but she wasn't ugly. In fact, she enjoyed wearing her short shorts and t-shirts since they showed off her female attributes quite well. 

//_So what was different? In reality, people don't run screaming from me, so what's going on_?// she asked herself. While trying to ponder this, the last school bell rang. Everyone got up and left her there alone, although she was dimly aware of it. She did realize it when someone tapped her on her shoulder. That someone was Akane who had a worried expression on her face. Taking a deep breath, Akane asked in a nervous voice, "Are you coming home with us, Oneesan?" 

Slightly startled, Nabiki just nodded her head. She got up and walked out of the school without passing through any school hallway or other classroom. It was if the door exiting the classroom somehow was linked to the door leading outside. Which was physically impossible since they were on different levels of the building. 

//_But this is a dream_,// a part of her mind answered, //_and anything is possible in a dream_.// 

Once passed the schoolyard's gate, Ranma joined them. Ranma walked in the middle of them with Akane on his left and Nabiki on his right, with the fence on Nabiki's right. In only a few moments, Nabiki realized that Ranma was using his larger body to shield her from the others on the street. 

Upon this realization, Nabiki got a warm, fuzzy feeling inside her and said to Ranma, "Thank you." 

Ranma just blushed and said nothing. 

"Ranma no baka!" Akane screamed as she hit Ranma with a mallet. "Baka! If she wants to go naked... Don't go trying to cover her up. Baka!" 

"But," both Ranma and Nabiki began at the same time. Nabiki blushed and knew that the blush went passed her cheeks. She also knew that anyone could see how far the blush did go. She secretly hoped that Ranma-kun would notice where her blush lead. 

Akane ran on head in anger leaving Ranma and Nabiki alone. They walked in silence the rest of the way home. 

Once they were alone, Nabiki wanted to ask Ranma a question but was afraid to hear the answer. Once they got home, she couldn't stand not knowing so she asked, "Why do the guys run screaming from me?" Striking a provocative pose, she added with a laugh, "Aren't I sexy?" 

Ranma swallowed, looked around for Akane, then answered, "Yes, Nabiki you're cute but --" 

"But what?" Nabiki interrupted. 

"But the other guys think... thatyoudon'thaveasoul," Ranma rushed. 

"No soul?" Nabiki replied with a pale face. 

"Of course you have a soul, Nabiki," Ranma countered. "You just hide it... that's all." 

"Hide it?" Nabiki echoed. To herself, she thought, //_That doesn't make any sense. I'm completely nude... how can I be hiding anything_?// 

= - = - = - =

Nabiki had a vague feeling that she had gotten up, went to the bathroom, and went back to sleep. She also vaguely remembered seeing something gold-colored in her sheets and heard a small noise of annoyance as she had gotten up and returned to bed but she couldn't remember what its source was. 

= - = - = - =

She knew she was dreaming again. She looked around and realized that she was back in her room. Looking down, she saw that she was dressed in her usual t-shirt and shorts. She laughed nervously. The last dream, in which she was nude throughout it, had disturbed her. More than she wished it had. Especially since she still did not understand that dream. But this time, everything in her room looked all right. Everything was in its proper place. Her bed was made. Her dragon was playing with her computer. Her books were align on the book shelves. Her clothes were neatly put away. But as she looked around more closely, a nagging thought that something was wrong kept trying to get her attention. But she could not see anything wrong... 

"Oneesan, do you want to join us for ice cream after school today?" Akane asked from the doorway. 

"Huh?" Nabiki replied since Akane had actually caught her off-guard. Remembering that she had an 'appointment' after school that day, she answered, "No... I have other plans for the day." 

"Okay, Oneesan," Akane replied with a giggle. 

Nabiki hadn't been looking at Akane when she first asked her question, she was still trying to puzzle out what was wrong. At Akane's giggle though Nabiki looked at her and quickly looked away. In a instant, Nabiki knew what was wrong. Akane was wearing a light yellow dress with a red ribbon in her hair -- not too unusual -- but Akane was the sole source of color in the room.... Everything else in the room, Nabiki included, were in shades of gray, like a pen and ink drawing. She couldn't help thinking, //_Not a bad job. The Artist must be very talented. I wonder if s/he has an agent yet_?// 

//_Baka_!// she screamed in her head. //_This isn't a drawing, it's my room_.// 

Another part of her mind then commented, //_So where's the color_?// 

Once she was alone again, she said to herself out loud, "Where is the colors?" 

Her dragon shrugged her shoulders and looked at her as if to say, 'Good question... too bad I don't have an answer.' 

= - = - = - =

The small gold dragon looked at Nabiki as she turned in her sleep. She did not like being thrown off when Nabiki had gotten up to use the toilet. Once Nabiki returned, the small dragon took half an hour to re-settle herself glaring at Nabiki the whole time for distrubing her. So when Nabiki start turning in her sleep the little dragon was miffed. She wished the Human would make up her mind... was Nabiki going to get up again or not. She was not going to be caught unaware again. 

= - = - = - =

Nabiki lifted her head slightly to look around her room. Everything seemed normal.... Everything was in color and she was dressed. Nabiki sighed and looked at her clock. There was still time before she had to get up so she went back to bed failing to notice the golden lump in her lap. 

= - = - = - =

The rays of sunlight woke the small dragon up. She looked at Nabiki, she looked around the room, then looked at the clock in exactly the same manner as Nabiki had done previously. Like Nabiki, she sighed, flew back to her horde, and took up a guarding position perched upon her horde. 

= - = - = - =

When Nabiki finally woke up several hours later, she noticed that the statuette was shining as if it had been polished. Her mind dimly noted something else was different about the statuette, it was as if, the little dragon was in a different position that she remembered from the night before, but that was impossible she thought it was after all only a statuette. 

A smile came to Nabiki's face for some unknown reason as she observed that in the Sunlight, the statuette seemed to glow with an inner light that seemed to pulse like a heart beat. 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*  


Akane went angrily to her room. //_The Baka gave Kasumi and Nabiki their presents_,// she thought. //_But I, his fiancee, have to *beg* and *grevle* for what is rightfully mine. Baka_!// 

Once the door was secured behind her, tears began to fall as she readied herself for bed. It was only when she tried to remove her shirt that she realized that she was still holding the statuette and book in her hands. She sighed and placed both on her desk. After which, she went to her closet and got out a nightgown. She put it on and started to brush her hair. One hundred eleven strokes later, Akane had calmed down quite a bit. A little voice in her head reminded her, //_Ranma came back for you. Not for your sisters... Not for Shampoo, Ukyou, or Kodachi... For ***you***_.// 

Realizing that the little voice was right, Akane sighed. It was then that she noticed that the statuette that Ranma gave her was a realistic tigress in miniature. She noticed that the unknown artist had captured the tigress's image as she tried to strike out with her front, left paw. Akane simply stared at the statuette in shock. A single thought raced through her mind, //_What is Ranma doing with a statuette of a ***realistic cat***_?// 

As she thought of one hundred and one reasons why Ranma, a person with a very serious cat-phobia, would have a realistic cat statuette on him Akane re-read the title of the book that he had given her. The title was still 'Seeko's Guide to Cooking for the Culinary Challenged.' 

After looking up what 'culinary' meant, she began to cry and mumble. If anyone was listening, they would have heard words like 'cook,' 'wife,' 'baka,' and 'bad' used in a variety of combination. Upon seeing the statuette again through her tears, she calmed down and went to bed. 

= - = - = - =

Akane was confused. Just a moment ago, she was getting ready for bed, but now, she was standing in the schoolyard and it was lunch time. Feeling lonely, she went searching for Ranma. After a few moments, she found him talking with some of his friends. One of his friends, Akane couldn't tell which one since all she saw was his hand, pointing her out to Ranma. 

She heard him say, "Later guys," just before he walked over to her and asked, "Wha's up?" 

With a smile on her face, she replied, "I made you lunch!" 

Ranma's face paled and asked, "Nani?" 

"Here," Akane said as she thrusted the boxed lunch at Ranma. 

"But," Ranma started to say but Akane growled, "Ranma." 

Gulping some air, Ranma took the offered lunch and sat down. 

Eagerly, she asked, "Well? Are you going to eat it?" 

Ranma sighed, opened the lunch, and took a bite. After a few minutes of chewing, he swallowed it, and then began throwing up. While holding his stomach, Ranma muttered, "Stupid uncute tomboy can't even cook a simple --" 

Akane got angry. And when Akane got angry she did what she always did... she struck out. With her trusted mallet she bashed Ranma on the head as she screamed, "Ranma no baka!" 

She then turned around and walked away from Ranma while muttering, "Let the Bimbo have the Pervert..." 

After taking five steps, she heard a scream behind her. Spinning around, she saw someone standing over Ranma's still body. In a daze, Akane walked back towards Ranma. As she walked back, she couldn't help being mad that the baka hadn't gotten up yet. She stopped a few paces from Ranma and noticed that the person standing over Ranma was Sayaka, one of her friends. Sayaka had a wild look in her eyes as she screamed, "You ***killed*** him!" 

"Huh?" Akane replied lamely. 

Sayaka repeated, "You've killed ***Ranma***!" 

It was then that Akane noticed all the blood around Ranma's head, which had been smashed in. 

More of Akane and Ranma's friends gathered and told her, "You ***killed*** him! You've killed ***Ranma***! You ***killed*** him!" 

"But--" Akane began. She was interrupted as several police officers dragged her way. At which point, Akane began to scream, "Nooooo!" 

= - = - = - =

Akane woke up silently screaming. It took a few moments for reality to re-insert itself. Once it did, she sat up and held herself for a few moments as she told herself it was only a dream -- a nightmare. She looked at the statuette that Ranma had given to her, and she felt herself calming down and falling back to sleep. 

= - = - = - =

She knew she was dreaming again but that fact didn't ease her fears of what would happened. She remembered her previous dream in which she killed Ranma and she feared that this dream would be similar. 

Once more, she dreamed that she was in the Furinkan's schoolyard at lunchtime. Once again, she felt lonely and sought Ranma out. Once again, he was with a group of his friends. Once again, one of his friends, Akane still couldn't tell which one since all she saw was his hand, pointing her out to Ranma. She once again heard Ranma say, "later guys," just before he walked over to her and asked, "Wha's up?" 

With a smile on her face, but a dread in her stomach, she replied, "I made you lunch!" 

Ranma's face paled once again and asked, "Nani?" 

"Here," Akane said as she thrusted the boxed lunch at Ranma with a feeling of deja vu. 

"But," Ranma started to say but Akane used her secret weapon against him, one for which she knew he had no defense or counter for, using her puppy dog eyes and a tear escaping her left eye, she pleaded, "Please? For me?" 

Ranma looked at the lunch box, then looked at Akane's pleading, puppy dog eyes, and then at the lunch box. Sighing, Ranma sat down, opened the offered lunch, and took a bite. After waiting a few moments, Ranma looked around sighed again, and took another bite. Which was followed by another bite, and another, and another. After a few more bites, Ranma had finished the lunch. 

Unable to help herself, Akane asked, "Well?" 

"It was... good," Ranma said in wonderment. 

A crowd of students suddenly appeared and cried, "Nani?!?!" 

Ranma began to sweat as he saw the crowd and then looked back at Akane. He looked at the crowd, then at Akane, then back to the crowd again. Both of them could hear the crowd whispering its wonderment. 

Happily Akane asked, "The lunch I made for you? It was good? As good as Kasumi?" 

"Now, I wouldn't go *that* far..." Ranma stated while looking at the crowd. "Kasumi is an experienced, excellent cook." 

//_That's true_,// Akane remarked to herself. Out loud, she asked, "As good as Ukyou?" 

"Hmmm..." Ranma responded. "I wouldn't say that...." 

Seeing the anger rise on Akane's face, he added, "Her cooking is her family's Art Form...." 

"But," Akane stammered. "Then how about Shampoo? Or Nabiki? Or..." Ranma remained silent. 

Exploding Akane cried, "Then who?" 

While solely looking at the crowd, Ranma answered, "like an uncute tomboy who's been cooking for only a few months without any instructions." 

"RANMA!" Akane screamed as she advanced on him with her mallet. 

Ranma, wisely, started running with Akane in hot pursuit. 

The various students around the yard watched Akane chase Ranma. Each reacted with various different expressions on their faces, but each one of them got out of their way. 

Eventually, Akane cornered Ranma. She raised her mallet in her righteous anger in order to smite her enemy when she felt a stab in her back. Pain flooded throughout her body causing her to fall to her knee, then to fall completely down. 

As the world grew dim, Akane thought she heard a voice. It was her own voice but from far away saying, "See... I told you. Her anger makes her blind to everything else. I told you I could do it.... It was so easy. Easy... Hahahahahahahhaha... So easy...." 

= - = - = - =

Akane woke up yet again. 

She immediately went to the mirror, took off her nightgown, and examined herself for any marks on her body. She knew she was being silly... after all, it was just a dream, right? 

Besides, you can't stab yourself in the back, right? 

You can't kill yourself, right? 

You can't be your own worst enemy, right? 

Those were impossible, right? 

Akane wished someone would tell her she was right... 

= - = - = - =

After a few moments, Akane calmed herself down as she looked at her statuette. She dimly noted that the statuette seemed duller then. She had thought that when Ranma had given it to her, it's fur coat was a midnight black... Now the fur was a dim off-grey color... given the tigress a look of old age and tireness. Not trusting her memory, she just shrugged her shoulders and went back to bed. 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*  


Kasumi felt the sunlight on her face. As she turned to look at her clock, she noted that in the sunlight, her statuette looked even less alive that when she had gotten it from Ranma the previous night. When she finally looked at her clock and realized that she had overslept for an hour. She got dressed and headed downstairs to make breakfast. She dimmly realized she felt more rested and energized than she ever had. 

When she entered the dining room, various pleasant smells came from the kitchen. For a brief moment, Kasumi thought she was still dreaming and any minute now, her mother would come out with breakfast. She dismissed this idea with some regret since she knew she wasn't dreaming. She was too wide-awake and alert for that. 

As she got to the table, she heard Ranma say, "Take a seat... Breakfast will be ready in a moment." 

//_Maybe I am dreaming_,// Kasumi thought as what Ranma had said fully registered in her mind. 

True to his word, Ranma came out with breakfast and set everything in front of her so she could serve everyone. 

Kasumi noted that Ranma had made breakfast with everything she herself would have done. When she motioned to serve Ranma, he said, "I've already eaten.... I'll be in the Dojo..." 

So saying Ranma headed off rather quickly. 

A few moments left, Nabiki and Akane came down, both yawning. Seeing their yawns, however, Kasumi felt herself yawn in sympathy. 

After recovering, Kasumi passed out breakfast to Nabiki and Akane. Nabiki began eating immediately while Akane looked around. 

Puzzled, Akane asked, "Oneesan, where's Ranma?" 

"Oh, he's in the Dojo practicing," Kasumi answered. 

Nabiki stopped eating for a moment and commented, "Isn't he going to eat?" 

Kasumi calmly stated, "he said, he had already eaten." 

Nabiki looked interested in that statement but said nothing. Akane sighed. 

After finishing, Nabiki said, "Oneesan, your breakfast is great... In fact, I think if is one of your best. You've out done yourself." 

"But, I didn't cook it," Kasumi replied honestly. "Ranma did." 

"Nani?!?" both Akane and Nabiki stated at the same time. 

Turning to Akane, Nabiki said with a wide smile, "That's some iinazuke you got. Not only is he better looking than you... He can cook better than you." 

Akane just grumbled. 

[=== End of Part 4 ===]  
Replies to Reviews:

dogbertcarroll
    Thanks. Was aiming for that... Each dream is "symbolic" and representative of each Tendo daughter. Two key points were shown for each as well, or so I tried.


	5. Chapter Five

  
  
  


"A Hell of a Life"  
by Shaule Sachs  
  
= - = Part 5 = - =  
  


= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =  
Version 1.1.html.ffnet  
#include ahoal/author_notes.h  
#include mega_crossover/std_disclaimer.h  
#include alternate_universe/std_disclaimer.h  
#include ranma/std_disclaimer.h  


= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =  


As Nabiki, Ranma, and Akane walked to school, Nabiki couldn't help remembering her dream from last night since they were walking in a similiar manner as they did in her dream. 

A sense of deja vu settled over her. 

Although determined not to, she couldn't help taking quick glance to make certain she was dressed. It was one thing to be nude in a dream, it was a whole other ball game in reality. 

Ranma was puzzled. He noticed that Nabiki would look ahead for the most part, but would look down at herself every few minutes or so. He also noted that Akane seemed to be on the defensive, if expecting an attack from anywhere, even from her very own shadow. As the school came within their sight, Ranma asked in a causal manner, "So did you sleep well, last night? I know I did." 

The Tendo sisters as one stopped and looked incredulously at Ranma. Again as one, reminding anyone who saw them that they were in fact sisters, the two laughed nervously in complete syncization. Nabiki with a touch of uncertainty in her voice said, "I won't say that..." 

"Are you okay?" Ranma asked puzzled. His sleep spell should have prevented any dreams or anything... just induce a full night of restful sleep. Fishing for clues, he asked, "want to talk about it?" 

Both sisters shook their heads and said they were fine. Ranma simply shrugged. Ranma pulled both girls to him and rested his left arm around Nabiki and his right arm went around Akane's waist. Both sisters, although neither would voice it, felt a lot better. They could feel a physical warmth and caring from him. Akane moved slightly closer to Ranma with a small smile on her face. 

Nabiki thought, //_So this is what it's like to have a brother_.// 

As they approached the school gate, both girls tried to step away from Ranma but to their surprise he held onto them. To their further amazement, no one seemed to notice them. Akane was surprised that Kuno wasn't around. They continued on only stopping in front of Nabiki's homeroom. Only there did Ranma release Nabiki. As she was heading into her homeroom, Ranma and Akane waved to her and headed for their homeroom hand in hand. 

As they walked into their homeroom, they could see the shocked faces on those students already there. Because, for once, Ranma and Akane were early and they were shocked to see them holding hands as they walked in. 

Even though it had happened yesterday, Ranma's classmates were still amazed that he was both participating in the class and seemed to have most of the answers to those questions the teacher asked. Thanks to Ranma most of the morning classes continued along without the usual "fishing for an answer for an hour" that used to happen. Before anyone knew it, it was lunch time. 

As class moved into the school for lunch, Akane grew nervous as she remembered her dreams from last night. She wouldn't even gone outside if not for Ranma at her side. By an unspoken agreement, they headed towards the tree they had sat under yesterday. Half way there, Ranma gave Akane a slight push which took a few steps forward to recover from. She was about to ask what was wrong when she heard it. 

'Glomp.' 

As Akane was turning to face Ranma, she mentally tried to decide if she actually heard the sound 'glomp' or not. Regardless, she wasn't surprised to see what she saw. 

There was Shampoo 'glomped' onto Ranma. Shampoo said, "Shampoo happy to see Airen." 

"I just bet you are," said Akane snidely to herself. 

Before Akane could say anything out-loud, Ranma said in Chinese, "Shampoo, please release me." 

Both Akane and Shampoo blinked, Akane because she didn't know Chinese and Shampoo in surprise since Ranma had never before spoke to her in her native language. Happy at this turn of events, but ignoring the message, Shampoo jumped up and down while still holding Ranma. A number of students watching the effects of gravity on Shampoo's jumping body. A number of bets on whether or not Shampoo wore underwear, and if so, what type, were settled that day. 

Ranma sighed and repeated in Chinese, "Shampoo, I'm asking for the last time. Release me." 

Shampoo simply laughed and said, "Airen talking in proper language.... Shampoo so happy." 

Ranma sighed a second time and said in Chinese, "I warned you." 

Akane watched as Ranma 'side-stepped' Shampoo. At least, that was what it looked like to her. How Ranma did it while Shampoo was still glomping him, she didn't know. But she giggled slightly as she saw Shampoo fall on her face since Ranma wasn't there to be her leaning post. 

Shampoo looked at the ground for a moment, which was only a few centimeters away, then she looked up, blinked, and asked, "What happened? Shampoo no understand." 

Ranma replied, "You fell." 

"But," Shampoo said. 

Ranma gave Shampoo a hand back up which she took advantage of and glomped Ranma again. A second after she glomped Ranma, Ranma once again 'side-stepped' her, and Shampoo fell on her face confused. Once again, Ranma gave Shampoo a hand up which she again used to glomp Ranma. And once again, Ranma 'side-stepped' her and Shampoo fell once again. 

This continued for about ten minutes, and a hundred attempts, before Shampoo stopped trying to glomp Ranma on the hundred first attempt. Akane throughout this saw what Ranma was trying to do long before Shampoo caught on. Actually, Akane thought the whole thing was hilarious. But in a rare moment of true wisdom kept her laughter inside. 

Once Shampoo stopped trying to glomp Ranma, Ranma said, "Shampoo, are you going to listen to me?" Ranma repeated himself in Chinese to make sure that she understood him. 

With a puzzled look on her face, Shampoo asked in Chinese, "What do you want, Husband?" 

"To be left alone, Shampoo," Ranma replied in Chinese. In Japanese he repeated, "All I want is to be left alone." 

"But..." Shampoo began. 

"Shampoo, I am not your husband," Ranma stated in Chinese. 

"But Amazon Law..." Shampoo began. 

"I am not an Amazon," Ranma responded in Chinese. "I don't follow your so-called ***Rules*** or your ***Ways***." 

Angry Shampoo replied in Chinese, "I'm an Amazon!!! I will follow lov-- Law!" 

Sadly Ranma said in Chinese, "I don't love you, Shampoo. Not the way you want me to..." 

"So?", Shampoo replied. "A husband don't need to love his Wife... He just need to give Village strong children." 

Seeing he wasn't get anywhere with Shampoo, Ranma tried a different approach. In Chinese he said, "Even if you and the old ghoul somehow forced me back to your village, you'll only bring Destruction upon yourself." 

"What?" Shampoo exclaimed. She completely missed the capitalized 'D' that Ranma had stated. 

"Shampoo, it's for your own good," Ranma said calmly in Chinese. "Go back to your village... Go on with your life... Forget about me." 

Stubbornly, Shampoo continued in Chinese, "But..." 

Ranma sighed, took out the drink from his lunch, and poured the contains over Shampoo. Shampoo's Jusenkyo curse took effect, turning her into a small cat that had some problems getting out of the now oversized dress that she had been wearing before. 

Ranma reached down, picked neko-Shampoo up by the scruff of her neck, and while looking her in directly in the eyes said in Chinese, "I would only be putting your village in danger of destruction. Please, just go on with your life before it's too late." 

There was a flash. After Akane cleared her eyes she noticed that neko-Shampoo and her dress were missing. Before she could ask what had happened, Ranma took her hand and said, "I believe lunch awaits us, my love. Shall we go?" 

Akane was confused and she wanted answers. But Ranma had just called her 'his love,' not wanting to spoil the mood, Akane allowed Ranma to walk her to their tree. 

Once at the tree, Akane sat down and Ranma handed her lunch to her, which she had dropped when Ranma pushed her out of Shampoo's way. As she looked at the contents she remarked, "Hey! This isn't want Kasumi usually makes for lunch..." 

In a small voice Ranma said, "Kasumi didn't have time to make lunches today, so I did." 

"***You*** did?" Akane asked incredulously. 

"Don't knock it, 'til you try it," Ranma replied in English. In Japanese, he said, "Yes, I made it. Try it... You may like it." 

And she did. Swallowing her pride, Akane said, "It's good." 

With a bow Ranma responded, "Thank you, my lady." 

Akane groaned at Ranma's antics. But before she could comment on it they heard a scream. 

"That sounded like Ryouga!" Ranma exclaimed as he pulled Akane up and they heard towards the crowd. 

Ryouga noticed the sign in front of him. It said, 'Furinkan High School.' From all the activity, Ryouga figured it was beginning of the lunch period. 

//_Finally_,// Ryouga thought. //_I made it back to Akane_.// 

It had taken him over a month to return to Nerima after his last fight with Ranma. But now, Ryouga was going to teach Ranma a lesson he won't soon forget. 

Just as he was about to enter the school yard, someone tapped him on the shoulder and asked, "Is this 'Furinkan High School?'" 

Ryouga turned around and answered, "Yes, it is." 

The stranger was slightly taller than Ryouga himself and from the various bulging muscle, very strong. The stranger wore a white loose shirt with long sleeves and a pair of tight blue pants. The stranger wore a sword across his back. Although all Ryouga could see was the handle which was visible above the stranger's right shoulder. The stranger had a bluish-green hair and his eyes were golden. There was a look in the stranger's eyes that left Ryouga unsettled and forced him to look away. From the way the strange stood, Ryouga took the stranger to be a martial artist like himself. 

The stranger began to laugh maniacally. 

Ryouga's uneasiness grew. 

"At long last," the stranger said between laughs. "Another world to destroy!" 

"Nani?!?!?" exclaimed Ryouga confused. 

The stranger stopped laughing and said, "But first! First, I must kill Akane Saotome... Yes, that's the ticket. Kill Akane. That will hurt Ranma. Weaken him. Then, defeat Ranma once more. Destroy another world. World go BOOM! Yes. Yes. Yes. But first! First, I must kill Akane!" 

"Nani?!?!?" exclaimed Ryouga angrily. 

The stranger calmed down for a moment, turned to Ryouga, and asked, "Can you tell me where Akane Saotome is?" 

"Who?" Ryouga asked confused. 

"Akane! Akane Saotome. Or is it Saotome Akane... I always get the order confused," the stranger repeated. "Her name is Akane! Her family name is Saotome! Or is it Tendo? Minor detail... minor detail. Do you know where Akane... Saotome... Tendo... Akane is?" 

"Why?" Ryouga asked suspiciously. 

"To kill her, of course," the stranger replied matter of factly. With a smile on his face, he calmly stated, "You can't kill someone if you don't know where they are, silly." 

Angrily, Ryouga responded, "You think I'm going to allow you to kill Akane Tendo?" 

The stranger looked unconcerned for a moment then simply stated, "Why, yes." 

The stranger began looking around the school yard himself while awaiting Ryouga's reply. 

"No one is going to hurt Akane while I'm around," Ryouga screamed as he threw a right-handed punch at the stranger's face. 

The stranger sighed, caught Ryouga's hand, and said, "You're not being very cooperative, young man." 

The stranger sighed and stated, "Very well... have it your way." 

So saying the stranger crushed Ryouga's right hand. Those near-by could hear the bones breaking, wisely, they moved away from the stranger and Ryouga. Unfortunately for Ryouga, no one thought to get seek any help for him. 

The stranger then completely broke Ryouga's left knee, right thigh, right ankle, left shoulder, and right hip, all within two seconds. Oh, Ryouga tried to defend himself, but each attempt was met with superior strength and skill. 

By the third second since the fight began, Ryouga basically crumbled to the ground, which disappointed the stranger. In response, the stranger kicked Ryouga in his side causing Ryouga to scream as a number of additional ribs were broken. 

Ranma and Akane ran toward the crowd. Once there they saw Ryouga fighting some stranger. Ranma's eyes widen slightly and told Akane to get behind him. 

Akane wanted to protest that she could take care of herself but seeing Ryouga's battered form the protest died on her lips. She quietly moved behind Ranma. Out of curiosity, she asked, "Who's that?" 

"Devos," Ranma said venomously. "Devos, the Destroyer. Devos, the Doombringer. Devos, the Oathbreaker. Devos, the Betrayer. Devos...." 

In a soft, emotionless voice he continued, "I met him a few years after I finally got out of Hell... Kloisa was the second 'stop' on my journey back..." 

Ranma laughed a bit. The laughter had an edge to it. Taking a deep breath, he said, "I took me a few months to discover the next Bridge I needed to continue with... Took me a few more months to figure out how to use that style of Bridge... 

"Having some 'time to kill' I went looking to see what this world might have to teach me... I learned the hard way that it had a lot to teach me.... 

"Anyway, Devos was once one of the Dragonguards, an Order of the Imperial Army. The Dragonguards were responsible for protecting the Empire of Kloisa from the Darkness. 

"Or they had, for the last two thousand years. Until Devos betrayed the Order and the Empire. Because of Devos, the city of Gem fell, its defenders butched from within. But Devos wasn't satisfied with that. Oh no. He proceed to slaughter one million helpless women and children. And... and... I couldn't do a damn thing to stop him! He was too good, too skilled, too powerful for me, back ***then***.... 

"I've learned a lot since then... 

"But even conquering Kloisa didn't satisfy his battle-lust, so for sport, he destroyed his very own world. And now, since I, alone, opposed him, not that I could have done much back then, he has been trying to find me ever since. He plans to destroying our world too... As a price for defying him." 

Ranma took a deep breathe, calmed himself, and stated, "But I will not let him, this time. Today, Devos, the Oathbreaker, pays his dues." 

Upon seeing Ranma in the distance, Devos smiled, kicked the unconscious Ryouga again, and began to charge at Ranma from ten meters away. 

Ranma remained calm. 

Devos closed the gap by a meter. 

Ranma motioned the various students still around to move away from Devos and himself. 

Devos drew his sword when he was five meters away from Ranma. 

Ranma looked into Devos's eyes. 

At three meters, Ranma raised his right hand, palm perpendicular to the ground, and pointed it at Devos as he moved closer. A huge ball of energy, two meters wide, appeared in Ranma's hand. The ki-ball was dominately light blue, Ranma's ki-color, but one could see other colors existing separately within the ki-ball, mostly white, some greens, and a few spots of red, giving the ki-ball an exotic look. Flares of Power seemed to erupt out of the ki-ball only to fall back into itself. 

A two meter wide beam leapt out of the ball hitting Devos dead on. The beam pushed Devos back. 

It deepened into a sky blue color. 

Still pushing Devos back. 

Devos's clothes caught on fire. 

Devos paid the flames on his clothing no mind as he tried to reach Ranma. 

The ball and beam of ki changed to a green-blue color. 

Devos's skin caught fire, and yet Devos fought on. 

The ball and beam of ki energy changed colors again to a reddish-blue color. 

The beam consumed Devo's flesh, then his bones and sword, leaving only ash, and then that too was consumed by the energy burst. 

Everyone was shocked. 

Calmly, Ranma walked over to Ryouga unconscious body, knelt down, and whispered, "Ryouga-kun... Ryouga-kun... I've avenged you, old friend." 

Ranma placed his right hand just a few centimeters over Ryouga's stomach. Ranma closed his eyes and his right hand began to glow a bright golden-white color. He stayed that way for five minutes all the while his hand became brighter. Then he set the hand on Ryouga's stomach and the glow spread throughout Ryouga's body obscuring it. After another five minutes the glow faded, Ranma stood up and said, "Hey, Ryouga! How are you?" 

Ryouga groaned, blinked, and jumped to his feet screaming, "Where's that crazy man?" 

"Ryouga, Devos's gone. Take it easy," Ranma said in soothing voice. He was trying to calm Ryouga down. 

"Shut up," Ryouga screamed as he punched Ranma. Ranma went flying in the direction of the school pool, of course. Akane watched Ranma's flight path and she noticed that Ranma was actually laughing in delight. 

Puzzled but angry at Ryouga, Akane called him, "Baka! Ranma just saved your life. And you thank him by punching him?!?! Baka!" 

"Akane!" Ryouga exclaimed in surprise at Akane's defense of Ranma. "But... but..." 

Akane grabbed Ryouga's left ear and started to drag Ryouga to the pool as she said, "You are going to apologize to Ranma." 

"Ouch," Ryouga complained. He tried to interrupt her with another "But..." 

"No buts, Ryouga," Akane continued on. 

At the pool, both pulled up short. There in the pool was Ranma. Both Akane and Ryouga was stunned. There was Ranma, male, in a body of cool water treading water as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Puzzled, both Akane and Ryouga began saying, "But... but..." 

Ranma still laughing and said, "Come on in.... The water's fine. Okay... It's cool. But it's not freezing... Nope... Not freezing. Come on in..." 

Both Akane and Ryouga could only stare at Ranma. 

"Fine, I'll come out then," Ranma replied. Ranma swam to the edge of the pool, lifted himself out, and walked over to Akane. Along the way, Ranma shook the excess water off of himself. Some of it landed on both Ryouga and Akane. Akane screamed, "Ranma! That's cold." 

Ranma just smiled and said, "Sorry." 

"How did..." Ryouga began but was interrupted by the bell signaling the end of the lunch period. 

Akane continued to look at Ranma, so he said, "Akane, we need to get back to class. See ya later, Ryouga." 

With that Ranma took Akane's hand and lead her back to class. 

Once back in the classroom, Akane's stomach grumbled since she didn't get to eat lunch. Everyone looked at her, so she buried her face in her hands in embarrassment. She only looked up when Ranma said, "Here." 

Ranma handed to her a pealed orange, similar to the one he had given her yesterday. 

"Where?" Akane began but Ranma smiled and simply patted his large pouch at his side for answer. 

As Akane ate the orange, she tried to remember if Ranma had left home with it. She didn't think so, but where else could he have gotten it from. She knew he didn't have it during lunch when he.... 

Akane didn't want to think about it. 

Class went on as usual. Or as usual since Ranma's return. Ranma fully participated in the classes. The only minor surprise was that Hinako-sensei was still in her adult form, but no one truly commented on it. 

When the last bell rang, Ranma told Akane that he was going to check up on Ryouga and that he would meet her at home. 

Akane sighed and went. She found Nabiki heading out, so she joined her sister. While walking home, Nabiki asked Akane, "I heard an interesting rumor today about Ranma, is it true?" 

Not wanting to talk about it, Akane replied, "Is what true?" 

"That Ranma killed someone today," Nabiki answered. "With a huge ki blast..." 

"It wasn't a ki-blast," Akane replied. "Ranma's ki-balls are blue... This one had other colors in it too..." 

"Huh?" Nabiki asked. 

Akane knew that her sister didn't understand. She tried to explain, "Someone's ki is... //_unique_// to that person. As such, it must, by definition, be a single color... But Ranma's ki-ball, today, if it was a ki-ball, had, in addition, to his normal blue coloring, had some white, some green, and a few reds in it..." 

"Meaning?" Nabiki wondered. 

"Meaning," Akane answered. "That Ranma must have combined his ki with something else..." 

"Such as?" Nabiki asked as if she was afraid of the answer. 

"I don't know," Akane replied honestly. "Maybe... Magic or something, I guess." 

"Still, if the story is true," Nabiki stated. "Then Ranma killed somebody today...." 

Defensively Akane said, "Devos deserved it." 

"Was that his name?" Nabiki asked. 

"Yes, Ranma said his name was Devos.... He also called him, the Destroyer, the Doombringer, the Oathbreaker, the Betrayer." 

"Oh?" Nabiki asked interested. 

"He said that Devos used to be a 'Dragonguard' of the Order of the Imperial Army," Akane continued. 

"Imperial Army?" Nabiki commented. "What army? We haven't had an army since..." 

"The army of the Empire of Kloisa, I guess," Akane replied off-handedly. 

"Kloisa?" Nabiki asked confused. She had never heard of such a place. 

"Yes," Akane said simply. "Ranma told me a little about it yesterday. It was one of those worlds inbetween that Ranma had to go through in order to get home. He said it was a beautiful world. He said it was a primitive world, full of swords and sorcery." 

"There's no such thing as Magic," Nabiki replied coldly as she remember the incident involving Gosunkugi flying and lighting candles without a match as she and Ranma walked home yesterday. 

Akane simply looked at Nabiki. After a moment, she continued, "He said that Devos betrayed the Order and the Empire. And that Devos killed all the city's defenders and its inhabitant's of one million people. You didn't hear the frustration in his voice when he said he couldn't stop Devos back then." 

"So this 'Devos' guy's a bastard," Nabiki stated. "Still it's not like Ranma to kill...." 

Akane thought about it and then said, "He also said that Devos destroyed his own world and that he planned on destroying our world." 

"Nani?!?" Nabiki replied. "Destroy a whole world? That's impossible... Isn't it?" 

Akane shrugged and said, "I don't know.... I do know that before fighting Ranma, Devos beat Ryouga, broke a number of his bones, and basically left him for dead right outside of the school in less than two seconds." 

Nabiki's eyes got wide at that but they returned to normal as she said, "If that's so, where's Ryouga's body? We didn't exactly walk over his corpse on our way out..." 

With a smile on her face, Akane replied, "Ranma healed all of Ryouga's injuries." 

"How?" Nabiki asked. 

"I don't know," Akane answered truthfully. "First, Ranma's right hand glowed a golden-white, he touched Ryouga's stomach, and the glow covered him completely. When the glow faded after ten minutes, Ryouga was completed healed." 

"It takes him ten minutes to heal Ryouga," Nabiki asked. "But it took only a few seconds to kill this 'Devos' guy...." 

"Yep," Akane replied. "And the baka punched Ranma into the pool for thanks." 

"Ranma-chan must have loved that," Nabiki remarked with a smile as she pictured onna-Ranma in the pool. 

"But he didn't change," Akane stated. 

"Was the pool heated?" Nabiki asked incredibly. 

"No, it was freezing," Akane answered. "I guess he found a cure for his curse before coming back." 

Nabiki shook her head and said, "I saw Ranma-***chan*** give Kuno-baby the performance of a lifetime yesterday." 

"Nani?!?" Akane exclaimed. 

For the rest of the trip home, Nabiki told Akane about onna-Ranma's performance for Kuno. 

Akane was not happy as her sister told her what happened. 

"There you are," Ranma said as he spotted Ryouga. Ranma had spent the last fifteen minutes looking for Ryouga. He found him in park, just outside of Tokyo. The same park Ranma had came home from. 

Ryouga spun around and exclaimed, "Where's the cure?!" 

"Gee, happy to see you too, Ryouga," Ranma remarked. 

"Ranma!" Ryouga growled. "You have the cure! Give it to me!" 

"Cure?" Ranma asked surprised. 

"Yes, you're cured," Ryouga stated. "I saw you in pool and you didn't change... That... That means, you're cured!" 

Ryouga blinked and onna-Ranma was leaning on his arm and whispered seductively, "Miss me, big boy?" 

Ryouga jumped back and exclaimed, "Ranma!" 

Onna-Ranma pouted and said, "What?" 

"But," Ryouga began. "I saw you in pool and... and... you were male!" 

"Oh, that," onna-Ranma said dismissively. "That's just one of Laws in action." 

"Laws? What law?" Ryouga asked confused. 

"Law of Knowledge," Ranma, once more male, stated matter of factly. 

"But..." Ryouga sputtered. He stared as he noticed that Ranma was male now and he didn't use any water to change. 

"Law of Knowledge," Ranma explained. "Knowledge brings understanding. Understanding brings control. After how long I've studied Jusenkyo, in it's various forms in various Universes, controlling my curse is easy... don't even have to think about it anymore for the last, oh, several millennia or so." 

"Several millennia?" Ryouga asked. He was extremely confused now. //_What is a 'millennia_,'// he asked himself but there was no reply. 

Ranma snapped his fingers and said, "You didn't know about George and Happosai-sensei..." 

"George?" Ryouga asked in a confused voice. Incredibly, he exclaimed, "'Happosai-***sensei***?' That old ***pervert***?" 

"Happosai-sensei was under a ***curse***, P-chan," Ranma stated calmly in Ryouga's face. Ryouga noticed there was some blue lightning were Ranma's eyes should have been. Ranma continued in Ryouga's face, "You can understand that, right, P-chan?" 

"Ranma!" Ryouga exclaimed both in anger at being called 'P-chan' and also because Ranma was scaring him. 

Ranma backed off, walked slightly away, stopped, reached into his pouch (which Ryouga didn't notice before), and threw something at Ryouga who caught it easily. 

Ranma remarked, "At least, you still got a good reaction time...." 

Ryouga looked down at his hand, there was a bottle labeled 'Nannichuan Water.' He looked back at Ranma and said, "But you said you weren't cured." 

Ranma sighed and replied, "By the time I found some Nannichuan water I could use...." Ranma shrugged and continued, "The curse was a part of me... It's came in handy a number of times. Once I accepted it, my curse was no longer a curse, but a blessing." 

//_Ranma accepted his curse_,// Ryouga remarked to himself. Ryouga shuddered at the thought. 

Ranma shrugged again and said, "Up to you." 

Without hesitation Ryouga opened the bottle and poured the contains over himself. Looking down, he didn't see anything different. So he walked threateningly towards Ranma as he said, "Saotome! Prepare to die!" 

Ranma sighed and said, "You would think that in all this time, you would get some new lines, Ryouga." 

Calmly Ranma asked, "What is it, this time?" 

Ryouga came to an abrupt stop, sputtered, and said, "You tricked me!" 

"How?" Ranma asked calmly. 

"Your so-called 'Nannichuan' water didn't ***do*** anything!" Ryouga exclaimed in righteous fury. 

Ranma changed and said gently, "You're really a baka, Ryouga." Onna-Ranma continued, "Look at yourself." 

"I did! I'm the same," Ryouga shouted. 

"Baka-sama," onna-Ranma remarked. "True, but you're also wet." 

Ryouga blinked, thought about it for a moment, and finally nodded. 

"What were you expecting? Thunder and Lightning?" onna-Ranma asked. 

Ryouga replied, "Well.... yeah." 

"Well," onna-Ranma said, "Watch." 

Ranma, changed back, placed his hands in front of himself as if summoning a ki-attack. Instead of ki, though, a ball of water formed. Gently, Ranma tossed cool ball of water underhandedly at Ryouga. The water ball spattered against Ryouga, who shivered at the contact but he noticed that his curse didn't activate. 

Ranma said, "See... You didn't change. You're cured." 

Happy, Ryouga started to dance. After a few steps, he swept Ranma into his dance. Onna-Ranma giggled and said, "Why, Ryouga, you're such a lovely dancer." 

Ryouga blushed, looked at his feet, then remembered this was Ranma and yelled, "Ranma!" 

"What, Ryouga-chan?" onna-Ranma asked as if awaiting some important question. 

Ryouga looked up at onna-Ranma and he noticed that she was wearing a ballroom gown and he remembered the ball of water he had formed... magically. He took a few steps away from onna-Ranma. 

Onna-Ranma sighed and changed back. Ranma, now male and wearing his usual Chinese outfit, said, "Boy, Ryouga, you have no sense of humor." 

"Ranma," Ryouga growled. 

Ranma stroke out his right hand and said, "Friends?" 

Ryouga shook his head, took Ranma's hand which was stronger than he remembered, and agreed, "Friends." 

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*  


"I'm home," Ranma called out. 

In the hall, he met Akane, who had been waiting for him. She asked him, "Where have you been?" 

"Out," Ranma stated calmly, "looking for Ryouga... Want'd to check on him." 

"Ohh..." Akane replied. Out of curiosity, she asked, "Where was he?" 

"At the park just outside of Tokyo," Ranma answered. 

//_The park you came back into this World from_,// Akane thought. She remembered that Ranma had said that some people call it the 'Park of Lovers.' 

With a slight smiled, Ranma added, "I'll take you there tomorrow..." 

Akane's eyes widen as she realized what that implied. True, he had said on a number of occasions that he loved her, but it still hadn't sunk in yet. In a small voice, she replied, "Hai." 

Feeling slight off balanced, she turned to something familiar. Although, she thought she knew the answer, she asked him anyway, "Want to spar with me?" 

Ranma just looked at her blankly like she just spoke in another language or something. Just before she could yell at him, Ranma replied in a small voice, "Hai...." 

A moment later, after Akane hurriedly changed into her gi, she and Ranma stood in the Dojo facing each other. They bowed to each other and Ranma said, "Begin." 

Akane and Ranma's sparring match began typically. Which basically meant that Akane tried to hit Ranma, while he simply dodged her. After a short while of this, Akane was getting angrier by the second. She could tell that Ranma was holding back... and it angered her. 

Everything she tried, Ranma dodged. Even a few moves she learned in fighting Shampoo while Ranma was missing, which should have surprised him, not only didn't surprise him but he dodged them just as easily as her regular combinations. 

Angrily, Akane screamed, "Fight back! This isn't much of a sparring match, if you don't do something!" 

Ranma just smiled at her. The smile didn't seem to reach his eyes.... His eyes, though, held a sad look of one whose seen too much. 

Akane felt that he was just mocking her. Akane's anger grew... and grew, but, because of her dream last night, she didn't give in to it. Instead, she channeled her anger into greater speed and power. 

Something changed. 

What changed Akane couldn't figure out. But there was something in the air. She was doing better in the Arts then she had ever had before in her rest life time. For a few moments, Ranma continued to dodge, but, then he struck her. And struck her hard. 

The force caused her to fall on her butt several meters from where she was. How he did it, she didn't know. Only, for the first time, Ranma had hit her. She didn't know if she should laugh or cry. She had finally gotten what she wanted... Ranma was fully sparring with her. He was throwing punches, kicks, blocks, and counter-moves. 

And she was hard pressed to stop him. He seemed to keep hitting her in certain spots. It took a while but she finally realized that Ranma was repeatingly hitting her in her weak spots in her defense. Which were many. And he continued to do so until she developed some kind of defense simply to stop the pain. 

As things went on, Akane's smile grew. The reason for the smile was because Ranma was actually sparring with her. He wasn't simply dodging and jumping anymore. This time, he was actually throwing punches and kicks at her. Although, for the most part, he continued to dodge her attacks, occasionally, he would block and counter-attack. 

Akane was short-winded, sweaty, bruised and in a great deal of pain. Her only complaint was that Ranma still looked just like he did when they started. Not only that but she knew that Ranma was still holding back. Still, she was learning a lot. Her defenses had been improved. That was something. 

Although she was getting tired, Akane was too thrilled that Ranma was actually sparring with her that she didn't want to quit. She tried to continue but after the second poorly-thrown punch, Ranma grabbed her extended arm, pulled her off-balance, slightly forward, and hit her on her back. Although the blow was soft, it was enough for her exhaustion to catch up to her. She felt herself falling, both literally towards the ground, and figuratively, as she felt herself lose consciousness. She dimly sensed Ranma catching her before she actually hit the floor. 

Akane woke up feeling better... She didn't know where she was but she felt safe and warm. As she moved slightly she heard some water splashing so she figured she had fallen asleep in the tub... Only she didn't remember getting into it... In fact, the last thing she remembered was sparring with Ranma.... 

"You're finally wake, Akane-chan," onna-Ranma said happily. 

"Nani?" Akane muttered. "Ranma..." 

"Yes," onna-Ranma replied evenly. 

"You.... You pervert!" Akane exclaimed when she realized they both were in the bath together and more importantly they were both naked. 

Onna-Ranma sighed and said, "At the moment, we're both girls... and even then, we're engaged..." 

"But," Akane began but onna-Ranma continued, "You needed the soaking... I couldn't leave you in the furo in the state you were in..." 

Akane's eyes widen as she realized that she and onna-Ranma were in the tube and the water was very hot. She asked, "How..." 

"Oh," onna-Ranma replied dismissively, "I can control my curse..." 

"How?" Akane asked confused. 

"Knowledge, Understanding, Magic," onna-Ranma replied. With a slight smile, she continued, "Besides, I didn't think you're ready for my male side...." 

He was right. She would have freaked out if she was his male side, but she could pretend it was all right with his female side. With Ranma female, she could pretend, slightly, that she was simply in the public bath. 

"You know what?," onna-Ranma asked after Akane remained silent for a while. 

"What?" Akane asked knowing she was being set up for something. 

"I know how to make this even better," onna-Ranma replied slyly. 

Something in Akane's heart and somewhere a bit lower tingled. Hoping she knew what the answer was, Akane asked, "How?" 

"Like this," onna-Ranma replied as she moved next to Akane and began to rub her shoulders. 

Both onna-Ranma and Akane left the bathroom together and with almost identical smiles on their faces. At the top of the stairs, onna-Ranma changed into her male form, took Akane's hand, and together they walked down and headed into the dining room. 

Ranma and Akane sat down together at the table where Kasumi and Nabiki were already seated. Kasumi then passed out supper as Nabiki asked Akane, "Imooto.... What's with the smile?" 

But before she could answer, a voice called out, "Saotome! Prepare to die!" 

Ranma sighed and muttered, "I was wondering when duck-boy was going to show up..." 

[=== End of Part 5 ===]  
Replies to Reviews:

dogbertcarrol
    'Great line' Thanks.  
Chinese parts... Fixed. HTML coding problem... originally, it was text only...  
Hmmm... She's seen the Jusenkyo Curses and minor Magic... I was going for... she's a skeptic and thinking about High Magic and everyday magic. Need to remember to look at that again.  
I know that Rumiko Takahashi had it difficult, but it seemed to me she did that only to keep the curses to continue the story. What would Ranma 1/2 be without Jusenkyo? Dragonball?  
I think Ryouga's Jusenkyo curse is the only "instant" fix, I have here.


	6. Chapter Six

  
  
  


"A Hell of a Life"  
by Shaule Sachs  
  
= - = Part 6 = - =  


  


= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =  
Version 1.1.html.ffnet  
#include ahoal/author_notes.h  
#include mega_crossover/std_disclaimer.h  
#include alternate_universe/std_disclaimer.h  
#include ranma/std_disclaimer.h  


= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =  


Cologne watched her great-grand-daughter, Shampoo, as she served the various customers of the Neko Hanten. For all intends and purposes, Shampoo looked like she was sleepwalking. She hardly said anything since she told her about what happened to Ranma over a month ago. 

Cologne had felt a great evil near by, wanting to see if she could use it to her adtanvage, she had gone to investigate... Only she arrived just in time to see Ranma and Happosai being teleported by an Oni that they had been fighting. 

She knew that Ranma already possessed some good skills and had a great potential to go far on the Path of a Martial Artist -- given proper guidance -- but to face an Oni... and a powerful Oni at that... 

After all the other observers of the fight left, Cologne went to the site of the teleportation, and casted a divination to see where the Oni had taken Ranma and Happosai. To her sorrow, the divination told her that the Oni had taken them to Hell, she knew no one living ever returns from Hell. 

Telling Shampoo the truth, that Ranma wasn't coming back, was one of the hardest things she had to have done in all of her ninety-eight years of life. But she did it, in Grand Amazon Tradition, straight out. 

At first Shampoo had tried to deny her great grand-mother's words but as Time went on, she was forced to accept them. Especially after she spent the rest of the week searching various places her rivals might have hidden her Airen. 

Cologne was very disappointed in Shampoo. Almost as much as she was disappointed in her own daughter and great daughter. She couldn't see where she had gone wrong with Shampoo. After seeing the failure that her own daughter had become and the traitorious ways of her own grand-daughter, Cologne had taking upon herself to raise her great grand-daughter alone and in the proper ways. She was disgusted when Shampoo's mother didn't even challenge her when she took the still bloody infant away. Instead of outrage, Shampoo's mother showed relief. Which just made Cologne more determined to raise young Shampoo herself. By raising young Shampoo in the proper ways, she hoped to undo the damage inflicted by her own daughters and grand-daughters upon the Village. 

She had named the young baby herself. She named the child 'Shampoo' after her own grand-mother and previous Eldest of the Village Elders with the hope that her great grand-daughter would receive help from her name-sake's spirit.... Even if Shampoo grew up to be only a quarter of the Amazon that Grandmother Shampoo was, young Shampoo would be tenfold greater Amazon than either her mother or grand-mother was. 

Cologne sighed and tried to figure out how she had let Shampoo talk her into staying in Japan. Although to be truthful to herself, she, herself, didn't wish to return the Village, especially as a Failure. 

Cologne couldn't help feeling angry. In her day, an Amazon would have simply kidnaped her intended, trained him, and that was that. The outside world was too afraid to challenge their Rights and Laws. 

But Ranma... But Ranma had to make things difficult. 

And to make things worse, he was corrupting Shampoo. Filling her head with meaningless things like equality, love, and honor to all.... 

//_Everything would be fine once I... once we got him into the Village_,// Cologne thought. //_It would be a simply thing to train him, to show him his proper place in the True World_.// 

Cologne laughed to herself and continued thinking, //_It should be a simple matter to show Shampoo that she should share with her fellow Amazons_.// 

Cologne's face moved into a smile and she thought, //_And then... the children..._// 

She chuckled as the thoughts came to her mind, //_Within two decades, we will be strong again. Able to show the World, its proper place. And then there will Peace in the world_.// 

"Great grand-mother, I need a 'Number Two Special,'" Shampoo said in her native Chinese. This caused Cologne's thought to be interrupted. 

"Right," Cologne replied in Chinese. She shook her head and added, "And speak in Japanese!" 

"Hai," Shampoo replied sadly. She didn't like Japanese. It was a stupid language. The only reason she attempted to learn it was so she could talk to her Airen in his own stupid language. And she had yet to show off her vocabulary yet. Stupid Violent Girl kept interrupting her. But what little she had shown of her vocabulary had caused her Airen to blush in that cute way of his... 

Shampoo sighed and had gotten herself depressed again. //_Airen isn't coming back_,// she couldn't help thinking. 

She heard the greeting-bell's ding-ding-ding announce another customer, so she headed for the door, and said, "Welcome to Neko Hanten. How many does Shampoo need to sit?" 

"Four, please," a young girl replied. Sakura and her three friends, Aiko, Nozomi, and Megumi, followed Shampoo to a table, sat down at the table, and looked over the menus that Shampoo had given them. 

"What will you all have?" Shampoo asked them. 

After taking their orders, Shampoo called them out to her great grand-mother who then flung the orders at her. She caught them more out of habit than anything else. 

After setting the orders down, she went to get tea for the girls to drink. As she returned she overheard Sakura say, "See, I told you the foods here is good...." 

Aiko replied, "You're right..." 

Nozomi responded, "And safer than Furinkan is... now that Saotome-san is back." 

Shampoo set the tea pot down with a bang and asked, "Ai-- Ranma is back, yes?" 

Without looking up, Megumi answered, "Yes, Saotome-san got back, I guess, from his training trip yesterday..." 

"Yes!!! Husband is back!!!! Goddesses are kind to me!" Shampoo exclaimed in Chinese. 

"Great grand-mother!!!!" Shampoo shouted. "Shampoo go on date with Airen!!!! Shampoo go now." 

With that Shampoo ran out of the Neko Hanten and headed for Furinkan High School as fast as she could. 

"Brilliant, Megumi," Aiko stated. "Now, there's going to be a huge mess..." 

Cologne sighed after sending Mousse out for various items the restaurant needed. The lunch hour was over, thankfully, with only Mousse to help her... it had been trying. But she needed the exercise. She had been getting soft.... But now that Son-in-Law was back... If it was Son-in-Law... No mortal ever escaped from Hell... At least, not without some kind of divine help. She began to think of ways to test to see if it was truly Ranma, and, more importantly, to check to see what divine interference she would have to deal with.... 

Her head snapped up upon hearing the greeting-bell sound a single ding. The bell, a charm actually, shouldn't have sounded only once. That was suppose to be impossible... It was suppose to ding three times for normal people, four times for very powerful auras, and five for evil... It wasn't suppose to be able to ding only one or twice. 

However, the greeting-bell did ding only once and there waiting to be seated was a woman. Cologne thought she should know who this woman was but she couldn't recall seeing this gaijin woman before. The woman's hair was as dark as night and seemed to move with the wind like waves upon the ocean. There was something about the strange woman's eyes that was unusual... but for some reason her mind couldn't grasped it. The woman was wearing a simply white kimono that seemed to cling to her form like a second skin. 

Even more unusual was the fact that Cologne thought that the strange woman has beautiful. Sure, when she was younger she had taken part in the Festivals, especially when there were only a few males available, but Cologne didn't usually think of women has beautiful... but this stranger was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. 

As her nature, Cologne tried to assess the woman's power, age and spirit, but she couldn't. The woman's pose and body language belong to an adult who was secure in her sexuality that only comes with age, something Shampoo lacked, and yet, her face and skin had the smoothness of youth. She could only detect a weak fighting spirit within the woman, but her body moved with the grace and economics of one familiar with the martial arts. 

Still the stranger was a customer. Unthinking, Cologne in the formal Chinese of her Village asked, "How may I serve thee?" 

The woman smiled and replied in simple Chinese, "I would like to try the House Special, please." 

"Coming right up," Cologne replied in Japanese. 

As Cologne moved towards the kitchen, she noticed that the woman was still standing so she said, "You may sit where ever you wish..." 

The woman nodded and sat down at one of the corner booths with the corner to her back. Thus she had two walls protecting her back and she had a view of the entire restaurant. 

Cologne grew more puzzled. Although she couldn't sense any ability in the Art in the woman, she had sat down in a very defensible position. The only way to approach the woman was by coming directly at her. 

Shrugging, Cologne went off to make the woman's order. After a few moments, she returned with the order and set it down in front of the woman, who frowned slightly. 

"Is something wrong?" Cologne asked. 

"No, no," the woman replied. "I'm just not used to oriental food..." 

Cologne smiled slightly and showed the woman how to use the chopsticks that she had set on the table with the order. 

As the woman began to eat, Cologne headed back to the kitchen to get ready for the supper crowd. Just as she reached the door to the kitchen, the greeting bell sounded four times. Spinning around, Cologne was amazed to see Elder Shan-Lee enter the Neko Hanten. She was even more surprised at the grim face that greeted her. Shan-Lee was one of several of her own daughter's contemporaries that she had trained. Shan-Lee was more like a daughter to her than her own flesh and blood daughter was. Usually Shan-Lee brought a smile to everything she did... so whatever had brought her out to her must be very grim indeed. 

"What can..." Cologne began but Shan-Lee interrupted her by saying in Chinese, "Elder Cologne, you are Summoned... You have one week to prepare before you must appear before the Council." 

"What?" Cologne exclaimed in her confusion. She also noted that Shan-Lee had addressed her simply as Elder and not as Eldest of the Counsel of Elders as was her title. A title she had had since slightly before Shan-Lee herself was born. 

"You will answer the Summons, Cologne," Shan-Lee replied in Chinese. "Or..." 

//_Face banishment_,// Cologne finished the statement mentally. 

Out loud, in Chinese Cologne demanded, "And who dares summon me?" 

Shan-Lee shook her head and said sadly, "You don't have the time, Cologne. If you don't leave now, you won't make it on time for the Summons..." 

Cologne's face darken but she had to acknowledge the truth of Shan-Lee's words. However family honor demanded that she ask in Chinese, "Who will look after my great grand-daughter, Shampoo, while I'm away?" 

Shan-Lee looked puzzled and asked, "Hasn't Shampoo undergone the Right of Womanhood before she left the Village?" 

"Well, yes," Cologne replied impatently. 

"Then she's an adult, an Amazon," Shan-Lee stated. "She doesn't need a babysitter...." 

Cologne looked guilty and in a small, sad voice said, "She's all I have left in the World...." 

A slight smile crossed Shan-Lee's face. 

The smile was echoed by the strange woman who had been listening to Cologne's conversation with Shan-Lee, although neither realized it. 

Gently Shan-Lee replied, "I will remain here until..." 

//_Until when_?// Cologne wondered herself. Depending on the reason behind the Summons, she could be gone for a little more than two weeks, one week out to the Village, a few minutes to straight out whatever it was, and a week back. Or she may never be able to return... 

Cologne quickly gathered a few items that she might need on her trip back to the Village, showed Shan-Lee where everything was, and headed out to the airport to get a flight as close to where the village was in order to cut down on her travel time. 

Shan-Lee sighed and, for the first time, noticed the strange woman in the corner eating. Her eyes grew wide as she recognized the woman. Dropping to her knees, she humbly stated in Chinese, "Mistress! How can this lowly one server thee?" 

The woman thought a moment. She seemed to look at the ceiling for a moment and then said, "I think you should go comfort Shampoo." 

"Huh?" Shan-Lee began but stopped as a loud wail tore through the Neko Hanten. Shan-Lee got up and headed upstairs. 

Once Shan-Lee was out of her sight, the woman turned to a shadow caused by a table in another corner and said in her native Greek, "Brother, you can come out of the shadow now...." 

Impossibly, a tall, handsome man, who stood at two meters in height, stepped out from under a three-quarter of a meter shadow that laid under the table. The man had the same hair color as the woman. His eyes were dirt brown with bloody red specks within them. He wore a white toga that came down from his left shoulder and reached down to his mid-thigh level. Around his waist was a simple silk cord that secured the toga to his body. On his feet were simple, laced sandals. 

The woman raised her right eyebrow at the man's appearance and commented, "What? No armor? Are you getting soft, Ares?" 

Ares laughed. It was a soft laugh of merriment. Ares changed his hair to blonde and his eyes to blue with red specks. He took a seat and said, "Dear Athena... There is more to Life than War, although fun, it might be." 

Athena replied in surprise, "My! You have changed...." 

"In two thousand years," Ares responded, "Those who don't change, are lost..." 

Athena took on a suspicious look as she asked, "So tell me, Ares, what are you doing here?" 

"Why visiting Futsu-Nushi-no-Kami," Ares replied lightly. 

"Oh?" Athena replied. "Then why are you in Tokyo? Last time I heard, ol'Fut-shi was in Nagasaki..." 

"Well..." Ares began. 

"Hera asked you to check up on me?" Athena asked. 

"No, Mother didn't ask me to check up on you," Ares replied. 

"Then why?" Athena began but stopped herself. Athena changed her hair and eye color the same as Ares, blonde and blue. Her blue eyes widen slight and she whispered, "Raijin...." 

"Well, you must admit," Ares stated. "We are all curious about this 'Raijin'... this 'Ranma'... You have remained a virgin -- even defended it against all that have come in the last two thousand years -- and now..." 

Athena's eyes narrowed and she replied, "Didn't you, yourself, say that we must change with the times?" 

"Yes," Ares replied. "But to date outside one's own pantheon?" 

"Oh?" Athena remarked with a smile. "Do you, brother dear, disapprove my choice?" 

"Few are the War Gods that can, and have, challenged me and tell the tale," Ares stated matter of factly. "Fewer still are those that can teach me a new trick.... No, I don't disapprove of your choice." 

Athena was shocked, she actually hadn't thought that Ares would't approve of Raijin. 

"Better you than that little bitch, Diana[WW]," Ares replied with a laugh. 

Athena's eyes narrowed. A storm began to form outside and above the Neko Hanten. Athena began in a low and dangerous voice, "Areessss..." 

Noting his mistake, Ares took a few steps back but calmly said, "You must admit that Diana is no better than that child upstairs is.... Made the same mistakes too...." 

Athena calmed down slight. Out of curiosity, she asked, "And what mistakes are those?" 

"Too much, too soon," Ares answered. "While I can understand the child's rush... You would think that Diana would know better... Especially after all of my plans she's foiled." 

"Speaking of the child," Athena began. 

Ares laughed and said, "No, I don't know why Mother Summoned the child's great grand-mother.... My interests, as far as the Amazons are concern, lays solely with Diana and her mother, Hippolyta." 

"I've never understood that," Athena replied. Seeing that Ares would remain close-lip on that subject, she continued, "Let us not argue about domains.... Getting back to my original question, what are you doing here?" 

Ares thought it over a moment, then said, "Curiosity." 

"Huh?" Athena wasn't expecting that answer. 

"I wished to see what type of World could produce one such as Raijin," Ares replied honestly. "That and a chance to spar with him, again..." 

"Is that what you called what happened in Mount Olympus?" Athena asked with a raised, right eyebrow. 

"Hey!" Ares exclaimed. "That was your brother, Apollo, and Heracles's fault..." 

"Righttt..." Athena stated showing her disbelief. "And who was it that damaged Father's throne?" 

"Now, that," Ares replied with a laugh, "was the Asgardian, Urd's, fault." 

"Oh?" Athena asked intrigued. 

"Oh no, you don't." Ares laughed. "I'm not getting involved with someone who's domain is the Past... even if it is another pantheon. Anyway, I'm going hunting with Futsu-Nushi-no-Kami, Bishamon, Hachiman, and Apollo... You're welcome to join us, if you wish." 

"And be the only female in a group of War Gods? I don't think so," Athena replied with a laugh. "I have a very good idea on what you're really hunting for... I won't wish to get in the way..." 

"Suit yourself, I asked," Ares replied. He shrugged and said formally in their native language, "Merry met, Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and War and Patroness of the Amazon." 

"Merry met, you, Ares, God of War," Athena answered back just as formally. 

= - = - = - = - = - =

"That's amazing!" Akane exclaimed as Nabiki finished telling Akane about onna-Ranma's performance for Kuno. As she and Nabiki walked into their home, she asked, "And then what happened?" 

"We simply walked home together," Nabiki replied too quickly. 

Akane gave her sister a look and said, "There's nothing simple involving Ranma..." 

"Well," Nabiki began. "We did run into Gosunkugi on the way home... He was trying to fly via magic again..." 

"Oh?" Akane asked curiously. 

There was a knock at the front door. 

Calling out, Akane said, "I'll get it..." 

Nabiki sighed in relief and then wondered, //_Where's Kasumi_?// 

Akane opened the door and gasped. There standing at the door was a woman, a beautiful woman. The gasp was because the woman had green hair. Green hair is not a natural color -- it had to be a dye job -- one that punkers got. But this woman, who was taller than she, was no punker. Her dress suit fit her too well... Her manners and outfit was of a business woman. 

In addition to the green hair, the other odd thing about the strange woman was that she wore reflective sunglasses on a cloudy day. 

The woman, upon seeing Akane said, "Hello, my name is Setsuna Meiou. I have come to see Ranma.... Is he home?" 

"Why no," Akane replied. Suspiciously, Akane asked, "How do you know Ranma? You're not another fiancee, are you?" 

"Heavens, no," Setsuna responded. She paused a moment and asked, "You're Akane, aren't you?" 

Akane simply nodded and repeated a little heatedly, "You didn't answer my question, 'how do you know Ranma?'" 

Setsuna sighed and said, "That's a long story... Can I come in?" 

Akane led Setsuna up to her room so they could talk while waiting for Ranma to come home. Once inside, Akane noted that Setsuna kept her sunglasses on. 

It was only when they sat down, Akane on her bed and Setsuna at her desk chair turned to face her, did Setsuna remove her sunglasses. Akane gave a little start as she saw that Setsuna's eyes were red. Akane was able to hid her reaction better this time. Red seemed to be their natural color just like her eyes were brown. 

Taking a deep breath, Setsuna stated, "Both my hair and eye color are natural..." 

"Nani?" Akane exclaimed but quieted down as she saw Setsuna was going to continue. 

"I got them from my mother," Setsuna replied evenly. Nodding, she continued, "I'm only ***half*** human..." 

"And the other half?" Akane wondered. 

"I'll get to that," Setsuna replied. "Needless to say, I'm not from this Universe... I've come here to ask for Ranma's help in dealing with a threat to my Universe that Ranma is very familiar with... As to how I know Ranma... That's a long story...." 

"I've got time," Akane responded. 

Setsuna laughed. 

"Nani?" Akane asked angrily. 

"You'll see..." was Setsuna only reply. Adjusting her dress suit to be comfortable, Setsuna began to tell her story... 

"A long time ago," Setsuna began. "There was a... kingdom. Lets call it the 'Silver Kingdom.' Silver Kingdom was actually composed of nine smaller kingdoms, five inner-realms and four outer-realms, all ruled over by the Silver King, King Serenity. 

"For a couple of hundreds of years the Silver Kingdom was peaceful and the people were happy with King Serenity's rule." 

"King Serenity ruled for over a hundred years? How?" Akane interrupted. 

"Well... It was the custom of the Silver Kingdom, to name the heir, Serenity," Setsuna explained. 

"So it was a series of kings, all with the same name?" Akane asked. 

Setsuna ignored the question and continued, "Anyway, one day, out of nowhere, the Kingdom was attacked. Within six weeks, the four outer-realms fell to the invaders. And that was simply a factor of the distances involved between the realms.... 

"There were numerous attempts by the Silver Army to drive out the invaders, but each time, the Silver Army met only resounding defeats. So bad were these defeats, that many in the Army thought there were traitors within their mists. 

"It was that mistrust that cost the Silver Army the first of the outer inner-realms. The Enemy truly didn't need to defeat us then... No, we had pretty much defeated ourselves by then. The distrust grew to the point that everything, which had once been shared freely, was now feverously amassed. Alas, regardless what 'precautions' were made, the Enemy knew the Army's every move. It became apparent that the Enemy was using some new, alien way of gathering their intelligence reports. No secret was safe. The best laid plans of the Silver Army failed to stop the Enemy... Nothing seemed to be able to... 

"So when the Enemy was within striking distance of the Silver Palace... Everyone knew it was hopeless... 

"While the people didn't have any hope of surviving... they did hope that the Silver King and his family might be gotten to safety... although few knew of any place that was safe from this unstoppable Enemy. 

"A few nobles gathered their courage and their Soldiers and formed a wall between the Silver Palace and the Enemy... 

"They did so, in the hope of giving the Royal Family time to escape. Of course, the good King Serenity won't abandoned his people... 

"History has it that one of the King's servants had to knock the King unconscious in order to get the Family to safety. 

"Anyway, the battle, if you could call it that, was going poorly... Most of the nobles were dead or dying... Half the Soldiers were wounded or dead... Those alive... Those alive knew it was only a matter of time before they, too, would join the others in that Final Sleep... 

"And that's when Ranma showed up.... 

"Ranma organized the survivors and personally lead the assault on the Enemy. Where others had failed, Ranma was victorious! Ranma wasn't like the other nobles and generals, who commanded the battle behind the battle lines... No... Ranma was, is, always the first one in... Most of the time, his lieutenants had to sound the charge in order to keep up with him... 

"Not only did he lead what remained of the Army, but he personally, trained a group of Soldiers, those who would become his lieutenants, in the Art of War and other things... In a short time, Ranma and his Unit, who called themselves 'Guardians', reclaimed the honor and moral of the Silver Kingdom. In recognition of what Ranma had done the Silver King, himself, appointed Ranma as General-Commander of the entire Silver Army. 

"It took four months of constant fighting, but, Ranma was able to reclaim three of the four outer realms back from the Enemy. It was during the Battle of Neptune, that Ranma and the Silver Kingdom, first learned what it was truly facing.... 

"Ranma and the Guardians were finally able to capture a living person who belong to the Enemy... Up until then, they had fought nothing more than machines and suiciding cyborgs... 

"It took a few weeks but Ranma was finally able to talk with one of the Enemy, who had almost swiped out the Silver Kingdom. The captured enemy's name was translated as 'Crimson' and her people's name as 'Lomian' from the city-state of 'Chronopolis.'" 

"***Her*** people?" Akane asked. "Figures...." 

Setsuna continued, "From Crimson, Ranma and the others learned that the Lomian had the ability to see into the future a few minutes ahead. This was how the Lomian were able to defeat the Silver Army so easily... It's easy.... If you knew what your enemy is going to do, before he or she does it... 

"One's place in Lomian society depended upon how far one could see into the future... Their evil queen, Queen Violet, foresaw that the Silver Kingdom would be the downfall of her people... She used this as an excuse to launch a pre-emptive strike against the Silver Kingdom. Queen Violet hoped that their ability to see into the future would give them an easy victory and allow her to plunder the Kingdom, to steal the resources of the Silver Kingdom for herself... Thus causing the very war that she said she wished to prevent. 

"But for some reason, Ranma was completely immune to the Lomian's foresight.... and while the Guardians weren't immune like Ranma, the Lomian foresaw multiple futures for them, all as valid as the other, thus confusing them. 

"From Ranma, Crimson learned the truth about how Queen Violet had started the war, her ordering the execution of the civilians, the destruction of Nature... 

"Outraged, Crimson sided with Ranma and Silver Kingdom and fought against her own people.... While others in the Silver Kingdom didn't fully trust her, Ranma did... Ranma trusted her completely and she never did betray that trust that he gave her. 

"To make a long story, short," Setsuna concluded, "A year to the day of the first Lomian invasion, Ranma, Crimson, the Guardians, and the remaining portion of the Silver Army finally entered Chronopolis. They defeated the Lomian Army. The war ended when Crimson, who had trained under Ranma, challenged her older sister Violet for the crown of Chronopolis. Crimson won and declared the war over." 

"Wow," was the only thing Akane could say after hearing such a story. She collected her thoughts for a moment, then asked, "But that still doesn't explain how you know Ranma...." 

With a slight smile Setsuna continued, "Well... After barely defeating the Lomian, the Silver King realized that they needed a 'defense' against possible future temporal invaders like the Lomian... So a team of Silver Kingdom 'scientists' and some Lomian 'scientists' got together to build a Space/Time Gate to give the Kingdom warning and the ability to wage a temporal-battle like the Lomian were able to... King Serenity placed Ranma and Crimson in charge of the Project... It took them fifteen years to create and secure the Time Gate, but they did it. During that time, Ranma and Crimson grew close... 

"A year after the completion of the Time Gate, Crimson gave birth to a baby girl, which if you haven't guessed yet, was me. So I've known Ranma most of my life..." 

"Why that two-timing hentai," Akane began as she got anger at the thought that Ranma had settled down with some alien female instead of with her. 

With a slight smile, Setsuna asked, "Do you know why Ranma trusted Crimson, when he had no right to?" 

Akane thought a moment and asked, "No... why?" 

"He trusted her... as he has always trusted her," Setsuna said simply. 

"Huh?" Akane was puzzled. 

"You must have realized that Ranma isn't you're typical kind of person," Setsuna continued. "He can see through a person, right down to their soul." 

"Aaa... maybe," was Akane's reply. "But what does that have to do with..." 

"You see," Setsuna responded. "Ranma recognized Crimson's soul as someone he knew... and greatly loved...." 

Akane thought a moment and realization struck as she whispered, "Me..." 

Setsuna nodded. 

With wide eyes Akane asked, "You're saying this 'Crimson' was me?" 

"In my Timeline, yes," Setsuna answered. "Or your counter-part, to be accurate." 

Looking at the clock Akane wondered out loud, "Where's Ranma?" 

Without thinking Setsuna replied, "Out talking with Ryouga in the Park, repairing their friendship..." 

"Nani?" Akane exclaimed. "If you knew, why did you ask if Ranma was home?" 

Looking slightly guilty, Setsuna replied with a sad face, "My mother died when I was only three years old from an old wound that never properly healed. I only have dim memories of her... I have given most of my life to duty... Just this once... I'm being selfish... I was hoping to get to know you a little better... and hopefully, in a way, get a little closer to my mother..." 

Akane saw that Setsuna was close to tears. She did the only thing she could do, she gathered Setsuna up in her arms and held her. 

Akane decided to let Setsuna sleep as she went to wait for Ranma to return. 

= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =

"I'm back!" Mousse called out as he set the various items he had been sent for on a table in the kitchen. He was surprised at the stillness of the place. It was as if no one was there. Yet, the main door was unlocked, no one turned the open sign over to close, but the dining area was empty of people. 

Sighing Mousse put everything away and proceed up the stairs towards the living area. As he neared Shampoo's room, he thought he heard some sniffing... Cautiously, he tried to open Shampoo's door, found it unlock, walked in, and stopped dead on his feet. 

Shampoo was laying on her bed in a fetal ball position and sitting next to her was Elder Shan-Lee. Mousse was indecisive. On one hand, he wished to leave since he knew the penalty for disturbing an Amazon, but on the other hand, his heart wished to comfort Shampoo. 

The decision was taken out of his hands when Shan-Lee noticed him, frowned and motioned for him to come over to them. Silently, Shan-Lee motioned for him to Cologne's room. 

Swallowing as he did as he was told, Mousse waited in Cologne's bedroom for his fate. After what seemed like an eternity, but was only fifteen minutes, Shan-Lee entered the bedroom. She took a seat on Cologne's bed. Once settled, she looked Mousse over leisurely. He didn't like the looks Shan-Lee was giving him, but what choice had he? 

After a few moments, Shan-Lee sighed and said in Chinese, "What am I going to do with you?" 

It was a rhetorical question, so Mousse didn't answer. 

After a brief lull, Mousse asked out of curiosity, "Where's Cologne?" 

Shan-Lee looked at Mousse for a moment wondering if she should punish him for his disrespect. Finally, she simply said in Chinese, "Eldest of the Elders Cologne has been Summoned." 

Mousse ran towards the Tendo Dojo thinking, //_Saotome has gone too far this time. He has hurt my beloved Shampoo for the last time. He has insulted my beloved Shampoo for the last time_.// 

Once at the Tendo Dojo, Mousse screamed, "Saotome! Prepare to die!" 

He saw a male figure in the doorway and he began throwing knives at the figure. Ranma calmly jumped out of the knives' way, landed behind Mousse, and asked, "What's up?" 

"It ends tonight!" Mousse screamed. 

Ranma just looked slightly puzzled and calmly asked, "Huh? What are you talking about?" 

"Die!" Mousse screamed as he threw a number of throwing-darts at Ranma. 

Ranma sighed as he dodged the various projectiles and asked calmly, "What are you accusing me for this time?" 

"Nani!??!" Mousse roared. "You have disgraced Shampoo for the last time, Saotome." 

Ranma's calm only enraged Mousse more. 

"Look, Mousse," Ranma replied in a soothly voice. "I'm not going to fight you..." 

Enraged Mousse started throwing everything he had at Ranma. 

"But I'm not going to like you use me as your punching bag either," Ranma stated as he stood still. He whispered, "Seraphim's Shield." 

A blue sphere of crackling energy appeared with Ranma at its center. Everything that Mousse threw at the sphere took on a bluish tint and then disintegrated completely. But that didn't stop Mousse. For a full twenty-minutes, Mousse threw chains, knives, blades, darts, gas pellets, and a kitchen sink at Ranma. Only some ash remained of everything Mousse had thrown at Ranma. After another ten minutes, Mousse collapsed from exhaustion. 

Ranma let his shield go, walked over to Mousse, sat down next to where Mousse laid, and asked "Want to talk about it?" 

And they did. Ranma and Mousse talked about everything... After an hour had passed, Ranma stood up, offered his hand to Mousse, and asked, "Do you trust me?" 

Puzzled, Mousse just nodded. He knew that, despite everything, Ranma was a honorable man. Reaching out, he took Ranma's offered hand. 

The world went dark. 

And the world brighten suddenly and it was slightly warmer than before. 

Mousse could hear a number of automobiles in the background. He noticed that he and Ranma were in some alley, some where. It appeared to be mid-morning... which was impossible... It was just a little after supper time a few moments ago. 

Ranma motioned for Mousse to follow him. 

Mousse shrugged and walked after Ranma. As they left the alley, Mousse noticed that the signs on the street were all in English. He also noticed that the passer-by were speaking English as well. He heard some other languages being spoken but he couldn't identify them. In his confusion Mousse fell back on his native language of Chinese and asked "Where are we?" 

Ranma replied in Chinese, "In America... Specifically, Springfield, California, United States. With the Time Zone differs, it's about mid-morning here." [Note 1] 

"What are we doing here?" Mousse asked. So great was he's surprise that he didn't realize that he and Ranma were speaking in Chinese. 

"Working on the Future," was Ranma's reply in Chinese. He noticed an particular building which he and Mousse entered. They got into an elevator. Ranma pressed a button marked six. The elevator went up to the sixth floor, Ranma and Mousse got off and Ranma headed to to the right, down a hallway. He stopped in front of a door mark, 'Christopher Wu, Optometrist.' 

He opened the door and motioned Mousse in. Within was a typical doctor's waiting room. He gestured for Mousse to take a seat as he went over to the receptionist. With a smile on his face, he inquired in English, "Good morning, Chris. Is Chris in?" 

"Good morning, Ranma. He's in. Let me check to see if he's free," Chris, short for Christina, answered in English. She picked up her phone, apparently got an answered, and her end of the conversion went like, "Ranma and his friend are here." Pause. "Are you free?" Pause. "Okay." She then hung up the phone. 

To Ranma, Chris said, "You and your friend can go right in..." 

"Thanks," Ranma replied in English. He gestured for Mousse to follow him. They walked into a hallway that was to the right of the receptionist until they came to two doors. One door was closed and the other lead into a room with an eye chart, a stylish chair with armatures that had weird looking masks attached, a desk to the side with a simple movable seat, and a table with various instruments. He pointed to the chair, Mousse sat down, and Ranma adjusted the equipment for Mousse's height. With an easy that puzzled Mousse, Ranma pulled out a blank form from the desk and began writing on it. 

Once he was finished filling out a number of fields, he placed the form on the desk. A Chinese man in his fifties came in and sat down on the simple seat. He looked over the form Ranma had written on and asked him in English, "You're sure you don't want to stay on as an assistant? The college is nearby... You could finish up your degree and became a partner in a few years...." 

"Nope," Ranma replied in Chinese with a slight smile. "I have no desire to become an optometrist. Anyway, this is my friend, Mousse." 

Turning to Mousse, he continued in Chinese, "This is Doctor Christopher Wu, an Eye Care Specialist, and he's also a Master of Hidden Weapons, like yourself." Off-handedly, he added, "Same school, different branch." 

Addressing both, he continued, "Mousse has a problem with his vision and some other problems, Chris... 

"I've worked with Wu-sensei, Mousse, he's a good, honorable man. I'm leaving you in his care, I'll be back later if you wish to return. But that's for later..." 

Ranma put his right hand on Chris's shoulder and said in English, "You know how to contact me, if you need me..." 

With that Ranma simply vanished into thin air. Mousse could only stare in awe until Doctor Wu started asking him questions about what he could see with and without his glasses. 

Ranma reappeared within the Tendo's Dojo. He walked into the dining room and seat back down. His food had only cooled slightly while he dealt with Mousse. 

"That was fast," Nabiki commented off-handedly as she noted that he was gone for only about ten minutes. 

Ranma shrugged and answered, "I guess Time's relative..." 

Laughter from outside the dining room greeted that statement. 

Ranma simply smiled and said, "Setsuna-chan, why don't you join us?" 

Setsuna walked into the room and sat between Ranma and Akane. To Kasumi and Nabiki's surprise, instead of getting angry at the newcomer, Akane got her a plate full of food and Akane told her to eat. 

With a slight smile on her face, Setsuna replied, "Yes, Mother." 

Kasumi paused and Nabiki choked on what she was eating, she started to turn blue in the face. Kasumi gently patted her sister on the back until Nabiki said she was okay. 

The rest of diner was finished in silence, although, both of her older sisters looked at Akane then at the strange woman who called her 'mother' and back again. Afterwards, Ranma and Akane told Kasumi and Nabiki that they would be gone for a while. When asked how long, Akane shrugged and Ranma replied that they would be gone for an hour. Akane looked sharply at Ranma, who had an 'I'll-explain-later' face. 

Once they were outside Ranma said, "We're dimension-hopping with a little time travel, we could be back at anytime..." 

"We could return the same time we left?" Akane asked curiously 

"Yes," Ranma answered. "But I like to leave some room as a safety margin." 

"Pu-chan, hand me your staff," Ranma said with a gentle smile. 

With a laugh Setsuna replied, "You mean, you don't want your staff back." 

Ranma sighed and said, "We are not starting that again." 

Setsuna just smiled. She reached over her should, pulled out her henshin rod, and said, "Pluto Planet Power, Make Up!" 

Akane watched amazed as Setsuna's clothes exploded from her body only to be replaced by a sailor fuku. In Setsuna's right hand she held giant key as tall as she was. On top of the key-staff was a heart-shape metal bow with a gem at the top and a orb connecting the bow with the staff. Both the orb and gem seemed dull, lifeless. 

Sailor Pluto handed her staff to Ranma, who took it reluctantly. As soon as he touched the staff, the orb and gem brighten and seemed to pulse with life. 

Sailor Pluto had an 'I-told-you-so' look on her face. 

Ranma frowned and said, "I guess I shouldn't confuse things.... I guess I should look the part, at least... Wouldn't want to give her hind-ness a heart-attack now do we..." 

With that, Ranma switched to onna-Ranma and said, "Pluto Cosmic Power, Make Up." 

Onna-Ranma underwent a similar transformation as Setsuna did, but onna-Ranma's sailor fuku was the opposite of Setsuna's outfit. Where Setsuna had white, onna-Ranma had black and where Setsuna had black, onna-Ranma had white. 

Akane didn't know if she should laugh at onna-Ranma in a sailor fuku, or be angry that onna-Ranma looked better than either she or Setsuna. She did notice that onna-Ranma was a few centimeters taller than Setsuna, and yet, male Ranma was, at least, five centimeters shorter than Setsuna. Of course, onna-Ranma's height only emphasized the short shirt of the sailor fuku she was wearing. 

After a few moments, she noticed that Ranma was staring at her. Onna-Ranma's stare unsettled her. She couldn't help feel Ranma's love for her but she couldn't help feeling as if he was weighing her against some standard, and he found her wanting. 

"Charon," onna-Ranma said suddenly. 

Setsuna nodded. 

Akane was confused and said, "Huh?" 

"You're a great martial artist, Akane," onna-Ranma began. 

"I hear a 'but' in there, Ranma," Akane said angrily. 

Onna-Ranma signed and continued, "Where we're going, you need some long-distance attacks, but you don't have any..." 

Akane began to say something but onna-Ranma interuptted her with, "Very few people can use their ki like we do, and I include you in that group. You do use your ki to increase your strength, but you can't project it outwards like Ryouga and I can, but fewer still can. I could attempt to teach you, but there's no guarantee that we would be successful. Unfortunately, and paradoxically, we don't have the Time to even attempt that. So... 

"So, the obvious solution is... Magic. And since we're heading towards the Sailor Senshi, their type of magic is probably the best for you to use." 

"Hence you need a Sailor Senshi name," Setsuna stated. "Charon is the name of Pluto's natural satellite." 

"So it's the perfect name for someone who's assists Sailor Pluto, or is that Sailor Plutos, in this case," onna-Ranma replied with a smile. "Fortunately, I can make a henshin rod for you, so you can become Sailor Charon." 

So saying onna-Ranma formed a ball of magical energy in between her hands. The ball condensed into a cylinder with a ball on its top. Onna-Ranma handed the cylinder to Akane. It fit easily in her hand. At the top of the rod was a globe. Within the global was a large symbol with a small symbol in its bottom right corner. She felt a warm 'glow' within her mind. She somehow knew that the larger symbol was the symbol of Pluto and the smaller one was the symbol of Charon. 

She held up the henshin rod, words entered her mind which she spoke out loud, "Charon Moon Power, Make Up." 

Akane barely noticed as her clothes exploded from her body, just as Setsuna and onna-Ranma's had, she felt a warm feeling spreading through her body. She only noticed that she was naked when she felt a draft through her lower regions. Just as she went to cover herself, the softest cloth caressed her body. 

As transformation ended Akane could feeling the intensity of the warm feeling reduced to a mild tingling all over her body. She looked down at herself and realized that she was wearing an identical outfit to what Setsuna wore. Akane began to pose in typical Sailor Senshi style. 

Akane didn't even realize she was doing it until onna-Ranma began to laugh. She wanted to get angry at Ranma but she saw that he wasn't laughing at her but at some reason could not work herself up to hitting her. 

After a few moment, onna-Ranma composed herself and said, "We need to get going..." 

So saying, onna-Ranma leveled the key-staff and pointed it slightly to the right. A beam shot out and opened a portal which Setsuna, then Akane, and finally onna-Ranma walked through. Once onna-Ranma passed through the portal, it closed. After it closed, from the other side of the Tendo's wall a woman's voice could be overheard cursing in the Norse language. While from the dojo proper, another woman's voice could be overheard cursing in Greek. A silence descended as each of the women realized the other was there. 

= - = - = - =

"Must be a storm coming," Kasumi commented as she and Nabiki heard some thunder and lightning coming from outside.   


[=== End of Part 6 ===]  
  


[-- Note 1:  
Yes, I know that Pacific Standard Time (PST) is seven hours 'ahead' of Tokyo Standard Time (TST). So saying that 'supper time' is 6pm TST, that would make it 1am PST. The reason why it's mid-morning instead of 1am is Artistical License(tm). ^_^  
-- End Note]  
Replies to Reviews:

dogbertcarroll
    Evil Amazons theme? Just showing the Amazons as I understand canon. So, yes, I, unlike other fan-writers, don't think of Cologne (or Kasumi) as a saint. And at times, yes, I do think Cologne is evil... but won't be emphasising that here, in a side-story or two, that's another story.  
The blanking out of foreign language should end with the HTMLization of the parts.  
I thought so... Do like a "unique twist" when I can.  
War god/dess(es) showing up for various reason is going to be the norm, the 'new' guests are part of the story, and a sign of the powerlevels involved now.  
Ch 7 is up now. Ch 8 needs to be polished.
Aleh
    HTMLization should fix the 'format' problems. (I hope) 


	7. Chapter Seven

  
  
  


"A Hell of a Life"  
by Shaule Sachs  
  
= - = Part 7 = - =  


  


= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =  
Version 0.3  
#include ahoal/author_notes.h  
#include mega_crossover/std_disclaimer.h  
#include alternate_universe/std_disclaimer.h  
#include ranma/std_disclaimer.h  


= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =  


Setsuna marveled as she stepped out of the portal and into her own world in the exactly the same place she had left it. She knew through her Time-sense that from her World's standpoint, she had only been gone for a second. She marveled because, as far as she could tell, her father had not used any intermediate steps in their journey from his Universe back to her own. They had traveled from one point to another point, without crossing anything inbetween. The level of skill, knowledge, and power of such a feat boggled her mind. She knew her father was powerful, more powerful than any of the Serenitys had been, but to Travel without an intermediate step.... She didn't think it was even a possibility. 

She, herself, had started here in a deserted lot behind the apartment complex she and the other Outer Senshi lived in. She, then, opened a pathway from where she stood to the Time Gate. From the Time Gate, she made a general pathway into her Father's Universe that didn't terminate. Once she reached the part of the pathway that was "physical" within her Father's Universe, she then made a pathway to a similar deserted parking lot somewhere in the area she thought she knew where he lived. She was off by a number of kilometers that she had to walk. 

She also felt the magical protection Ranma had set up for the terminal site. She knew that she could only feel them because she was inside the protective sphere. The intricacy of the shield that would protect them from any physical or magical attack would also shield them from prying eyes. 

"Looks just like Tokyo to me," Akane's voice cut into Setsuna's thoughts. 

"It is Tokyo," Setsuna replied calmly. She pushed aside her thoughts on Ranma's greater skills for another day. 

"Tokyo of a different Universe, actually," onna-Ranma added. "There's some similarities and some differences..." 

"Such as?" Akane asked curiously. 

Ranma thought a moment and replied, "Such as Furinkan High School doesn't exist here, Nerima's High School is called 'Hatsuyuki.' It has different architecture and different faculty members. The Kunos don't exist in this Universe. Neither do the Saotomes, Hibikis, or Chinese Amazons for that matter." 

"But," Akane began but onna-Ranma interrupted with, "But... the Tendos exists here, the Sailor Senshi do, although they don't in ***our*** Universe. And the Kuonjis exist, but Ukyou's counterpart was born male..." 

A thought entered Akane's mind when Ranma said that her family existed here, //_Maybe my Mother is alive here..._// 

"Since you had a counterpart here, Sailor Charon," onna-Ranma continued. "You have to be careful... 

"There's a 'disguise' spell woven into each Sailor Senshi's powers, but theirs is really simple, mostly to protect their civilian identities. I made your 'disguise' spell a lot more complicated... In fact, to be safe, you should just stick with 'Charon' as your name. And don't mention more than you need to... There are people who can hear anything -- if its spoken out loud." 

"Nani?" Akane asked. 

"So you won't endanger your family. The Sailor Senshi have a lot of enemies... some who wasn't hesitate to attack our families if they knew our secrets," Setsuna responded. "Happosai doesn't exist here... So there's no 'Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu' here as well." 

"Nani?" Akane asked confused. She couldn't picture her father without the Tendo School of Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu. 

"He teaches Kendo," Setsuna replied. "He's a pretty good instructor. Your family's Dojo has taken first and second place in all Kendo matches for the last five years that they've entered." 

"As long as you stay in Senshi form," onna-Ranma stated. "We won't complicate things..." 

Both Setsuna and Akane looked at onna-Ranma as she trailed off. Seeing their looks, onna-Ranma blushed and said, "Here I'm talking about not complicating thing... and I'm holding your Time-staff... What will you do if..." 

Onna-Ranma took the staff in both hands, held it parallel to the ground, and closed her eyes. A blue-ish glow spread over the staff from onna-Ranma's hands to the outer tips. The glow grew until it became too bright to look upon. 

A few moments later, the glow died down. Setsuna and Akane saw onna-Ranma holding three staffs, the original Sailor Pluto's Time Staff in her right hand, a simple staff that looked to be made of wood with a blue crystal sphere on top of it that floated before her, and a smaller duplicate of the Time-staff in her left hand. She returned the Time Staff to Setsuna and handed the duplicate, smaller Time Staff to Akane. She then grabbed the simple wooden staff in her right hand and used it like a walking stick. The blue sphere seemed to pulse with a heart beat. 

"We need to find the Sailor Senshi," onna-Ranma stated as she started to walk off. 

= - = - = - =

The Sailor Senshi, at that moment, were meeting at Rei's temple. Everyone was present, minus Setsuna. When Rei noticed this, she asked, "Where's Pluto?" 

Haruka looked at Michiru, who shrugged, and said, "She said something about getting help...." 

"Help?" Usagi repeated in puzzlement. "From who?" 

"Who***m***" Ami corrected Usagi. "It's 'from whom.'" 

"Whichever," Minako replied. "Who else is there? There's the nine of us... Tuxedo Kamen... and that's it." 

Haruka just shrugged and answered, "That's what she said..." 

Makoto shivered and said, "If Pluto thinks we need help..." 

"What are we facing?" Artemis finished. 

"We, Artemis?" Minako asked archly. "I didn't see you almost shishkabobbed by that... that...." 

"Chronodroid," Ami stated. "Pluto called it a 'Chronodroid.'" 

"According to Setsuna," Haruka stated. "This 'Chronodroid' was only slightly 'in-phase' with our Time-frame." 

"Which is why some of the parts seemed to 'disappear' and 're-appear,'" Ami replied. 

"So she was familiar with this 'Chronodroid,'" Minako said sourly. "She could have warned us..." 

"Hey, Setsuna was as surprised to see it as we were," Haruka stated to defend her missing friend. 

"In fact," Ami stated in a soft voice that carried. "The 'droid seemed to fixate on her..." 

"Considering she was the one to defeat it," Minako began. "Hey! How did she defeat it? My memory is fuzzy -- I remember a flash -- then the 'droid was in pieces..." 

Everyone looked at each other and shrugged. 

"All I remember is that Pluto touched me and told me to use a 'Mars Firebird Strike,'" Rei replied. 

"But that didn't work before," Makoto stated. 

"Well... I remember Setsuna touching me and saying I should use a 'Deep Submerge' when she said too," Michiru answered. 

"When did you release your attacks," Luna inquired. 

"When Pluto/Setsuna said," Rei/Michiru replied at the same time. 

Ami's eyes went wide and she exclaimed, "That's it!" 

"What's it?" Hotaru asked. 

"Pluto must have placed Mars and Neptune slightly out of phase with the Present, like the 'droid was, and the 'flash' was Mars and Neptune's attacks striking the 'droid at the same time," Ami stated. 

Everyone thought about it until Usagi said, "My head hurts..." 

"Of course it does," Rei stated in a matter of fact voice. "That's because you're an Odango atama..." Rei stuck her tongue out at Usagi for emphasis. 

"Rei! Why are you being so mean to me?" Usagi cried. 

"Like you understand this Time stuff any better," Minako responded to Rei. 

"Rei! Usagi!" Luna called to stop their fighting. "We need to plan... If there's one of these 'Chronodroids' --" 

"There are more where that one came from," Sailor Pluto stated as she and two others entered. 

Everyone tensed up upon seeing that Pluto had company, but relaxed when they saw the others were Sailor Senshi too... Although who they were... 

"Who are the two newbies, Pluto?" asked Minako in her 'I'm an experienced professional and I don't like amateurs getting in the way and complicating things' voice. 

The tall redhead sighed and replied to Minako, "Nice to see you again, Commander Venus. My! How you've grown..." 

Turning to Usagi, the redhead said, "I'm Sailor Pluto, your hind-ness." Gesturing at the other new comer, she said, "This is my assistant, Sailor Charon." 

Haruka whispered to Michiru and Hotaru, "Ever hear of an assistant for a Senshi? Let alone for Pluto?" 

Both shook their heads negatively. 

"But... But she's Sailor Pluto," Minako stated as she pointed towards Setsuna. 

Setsuna looked startled and muttered, "Nani? You all thought I had this job forever? Ranko's my predecessor... and a better Pluto than I'll ever be..." 

"Don't sell yourself short, Set-chan," Ranko, Elder Sailor Pluto, replied in a smile. "You're doing an excellent job." 

The other Outer Senshi looked nervous at Ranko's shorting of Pluto's name, they know that there were two ways to get on Setsuna's bad side... One of them was to use a 'nickname' in place of her full name. But instead of the expected angry look, Setsuna just blushed. The Outer Senshi's opinion of this Elder Pluto went up a notch if she could get Setsuna to blush. 

After a few moments of silence, Luna asked the Sailor Pluto she knew, "Sailor Pluto, our Sailor Pluto, believes you, Sailor Pluto, can help us, can you?" 

Usagi looked towards Ranko, said, 'She's Sailor Pluto,' then towards Setsuna, and repeated, 'But she's Sailor Pluto,' and back again, until she whispered to Mamoru, who was next to her, "This is so confusing..." 

Mamoru could only nod his head. 

"I can try," Ranko replied happily. 

A big sweat drop appeared on everyone's faces. 

"Mercury, can I see your computer?" Elder Sailor Pluto asked. 

Ami shrugged and replied, "Sure...." 

"Thanks," Elder Sailor Pluto said. 

Elder Pluto took the Mercury computer, pressed a number of buttons, and then set it face-open on the floor and took a number of steps back. 

A hologram of the 'droid that the Senshi had fought that morning appeared above the Mercury computer. The hologram was scaled to half the actual size of the 'droid. In addition to the hologram, there were text labels and analysis displayed as well. 

"Computer, full scale," Elder Pluto stated. 

As the hologram expanded to full size, all the Senshi's eyes grew wide. Mercury's eyes were the biggest. The Inner Senshi looked to Ami in amazement. Ami looked at Luna and Setsuna, who shrugged. 

"Computer, run Tactical Analysis, Option Pluto Six," Elder Pluto said after the hologram finished growing. 

The hologram took on an added element and began to move. Various parts became transparent with different colors as the text displays changed from Silver Millennium script to modern Japanese. 

"A Chronodroid," Elder Pluto stated evenly. "I thought they were all in Storage..." 

"You seem to know a lot about them," Minako said evenly. "Care to tell us about them?" 

"Simple, you probably know them better as the C-Droids..." Elder Pluto replied. "Although, we used them from time to time... They are... or rather were... original used by the Lomian." 

"C-Droids? The ***Lomian***?" Usagi asked puzzled. "Who are they?" 

The other Senshi were just as puzzled as their princess. 

"Don't you guys know any History?" Elder Pluto asked with a sigh. She looked towards the Outer Senshi seeing their equally puzzled looks she asked, "Especially, you... Don't you know your ***own*** History?" 

"Huh?" was the Senshi's only reply. 

Elder Pluto sighed, issued some verbal commands to the Mercury computer, and began telling everyone the history of the Outer Worlds. She explained that before Queen Serenity ruled, her father, King Serenity, did. And in the seven hundred seventy sixth year of King Serenity's reign, the Lomians invaded. She explained that because of the Lomians natural abilities, the C-Droids, and the fact that back then there were only four Senshi, the Lomian were able to over-run the outer worlds, Jupiter, and Mars, with relative ease. 

Elder Pluto continued how the Lomians had a natural ability to see into the Future, thus they were able to plan for any move the Kingdom planned even before the Kingdom planned it. She stated since she was actually from outside their universe, she was immune to their sight. Using her immunity, the Kingdom was able to create magic spells to protect the four Senshi. Together, they were able to defeat the Lomians. After their defeat, the Kingdom learned that the Lomians had been controlled by an evil entity named, Zankoku. After freeing the Lomians, they were welcomed in the Kingdom and they settled the outer worlds. 

As Ranma talked, Akane couldn't help thinking that his... her version of the 'History', differed from Setsuna's. She also knew that it was her older sister, Nab-- Violet, who ordered the invasion of the Moon Kingdom and its worlds, after Nab-- Violet killed their older sister, Kas-- Cyan. There was no 'Zankoku'... just her power-hungry older sister who been corrupted by... by... something that Akane couldn't remember, but it was not some evil entity who name meant 'cruel.' 

Setsuna added that it was after the Lomian Incident, that the Space-Time Gate was created by her father and a team of Kingdom and Lomian scientists. With the creation of the Space-Time Gate, the post of Sailor Pluto was created and Elder Pluto who stood before them was the very first Sailor Pluto. 

Elder Pluto just frowned at Younger Pluto's adding that tidbit... Setsuna just smiled as the Senshi went 'ohh' and 'ahh.' Just as Younger Pluto was going to add something else, Elder Pluto bopped her on her head and gave her a look. Akane hid a grin as she realized that Ranma was acting a little bit like Cologne did when he said something he shouldn't. 

The one identified as Sailor Mercury started to ask a question, her computer interuptted her with "Targets, located. Three C-Droids, Class Warrior, Five C-Droids, Class Scout, and Nine Scout Droids, Class Three detected at grid reference five six by three oh five by niner two eight cross oh eight by oh one by oh four." 

"Acknowledged," Elder Pluto replied to the computer. Gesturing towards everyone, she said, "Shall we go?" 

As an afterthought, Elder Pluto added towards the one identified as Sailor Moon, "with your permission, your Highness...." 

Sailor Moon could only nod her head in confusion. 

Turning towards, Younger Pluto, Elder Pluto said with a bow, "Care to do the honors?" 

Setsuna blushed as the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen looked at her questioning. She stammers that she can't, that she was out of practice... 

Elder Pluto muttered, "That's not good, Set-chan." 

"Okay," she stated as she raised her staff. "Pluto Express... next stop... Gold Dragon Mount Park." 

= - = - = - =

The park was located on top of a large hill, a small mountain, or according to legend, the park was set atop a sleeping, gold dragon that centuries of earth and wind had covered up. 

There were various people running out of the park in a panic as the Sailor Senshi, Tuxedo Kamen, Elder Pluto, and Sailor Charon arrived via Elder Pluto's teleportation. A quick look showed that the three Warrior Class C-Droids, huge humanoid figures with tough, metallic armor, were in the center of the park flanked by the five Scout Class C-Droids, who were ball and stick figures. Both C-Droid classes had parts that were out-of-phase with the Here and Now. The nine Scout Droids were half-meter spheres with eight legs each that moved around like spiders. All seventeen droids were aware of the Senshi's arrival in matter of moments. 

Both Plutos gave out instructions on how to fight the C-Droids, who were the greater threat since they could detect an attack before that attack was launched. Basically, one had to plan out one's strategy several moves in advance like chess. 

During the fight, Sailor Charon discovered that she had the power to 'ferry' a person or a thing from one point to another, without crossing the space between the two points. She used this power to rescue the slower Senshi from danger. She and Tuxedo Kamen spent a lot of time rescuing Sailor Moon. 

Ten minutes into the fight, Sailor Mercury and Jupiter, with Younger Pluto's help, were able to trick two Scout C-Droids into destroying each other. To everyone's dismay, three more Warrior Class C-Droids took their place. 

"Dead Scream," Elder Pluto called her attack in a calm, low voice and directed it towards destroying two of the three original Warrior Class C-Droids that were pinning Sailors Neptune and Uranus down. The two Warrior Class C-Droids where replaced by five Scout Class C-Droids, which being smaller, were harder to hit. 

Elder Pluto examined both Uranus and Neptune for injuries. Finding none, she looked around and said "We're dealing with the symptoms, when we NEED to be dealing with the disease itself!!" 

= - = - = - =

Sighing, Elder Pluto raised her staff and shouted, "Dark Dome --" 

And the Universe paused, allowing several shocked Senshi to look at Elder Pluto in shock as she finished her attack with, "ENCAPSULATE!!!" 

And the park, what was left of it after the Senshi and the C-Droids attacks, was enclosed in a dark dome of unknown energy. To those within the dome, the bright sunlight that passed through the dome gave everything a grey, washed out look. Then two more surprising things happened, first the various C-Droids no longer were partially out-phased but whole, and Elder Pluto turned into a blue phantom and vanished. 

Younger Pluto froze, looked at the empty place where Elder Pluto stood not a moment before, and cried out, "That's impossible!" 

Fortunately for Younger Pluto, Sailor Charon was able to ferry her out of harm's way. Once Pluto was out of the way, she shouted at everyone, "We still have some Droids to smash, people!" 

Enclosed in Elder Pluto's dome, the C-Droids seemed to have lost their extra-temporal abilities and were reduced to being simple droids like the scout droids. It took only a few moments, under these conditions, for the Senshi to destroy all the droids. Especially since those destroyed, were not replaced. 

= - = - = - =

A point of blue light appeared in the darkness. The point quickly grew into a line, which grew into a plane, which expanded into a blue humanoid, transparent form of male Ranma. His clothes made of a blue fog covered him leaving only his head and hands uncovered. The blue fog had the look of a military uniform. The blue fog around his feet took on the appearance of military boots. After a moment's thought, he solidified himself and his clothes. 

Ranma extended his hand out, palm up and a small ball of ki formed slightly above the palm. The ball floated slightly ahead and above Ranma and casted a bluish light around him. He saw that a reception hall with a large door was to his left, which Ranma walked towards. As he approached the door, he became transparent again and walked through the door into a hallway. The hallway was decorated with various three-dimensional art works that made up parts of the hallway itself. After a few moments, he came upon another set of doors. 

Ranma let the ki-ball dissipate, turned transparent again, and walked through the doors. On the other side, he solidified again and saw a bright lit room. The room was the former throne-room of the Lomians. On each side of the throne-room, there were benches for applicants and observers to seat themselves. At the far end of the throne-room, the throne of the Lomians stood. It was a simple chair with a high back, arm rests, and bright colored cushions. The throne, itself however, was black. 

Standing on the cushions was a young woman, who was reaching towards a huge stone carved eye that was set in the wall behind and above the throne. The young woman had green hair that fell past her knees and was wearing light green pants, a light green shirt with a dark green vest over it, and dark green boots. 

Ranma sighed and said, "The Eye will not serve you, Forest." 

Forest, the woman in green, spun around too quickly and fell off the throne landing on her butt with an, "Ouch." 

Forest quickly got up, unconsciously rubbed her sore ass, and shot a look of pure hatred at Ranma as she hissed, "Chronossss! How can you still be alive?" 

Ranma shook his head sadly and repeated, "The Eye will not serve you." 

"Oh?" Forest inquired. "And why not?" 

"Simple. You're not of the Blood," was his response. 

"Nani?" Forest began and then laughed out loud. She added, "Oh, Chronos... I see Time has finally got up to you, you ***old*** senile ***human***. You're what? Somewhere around three and half thousand years old?" 

Forest paused a moment, made a dramatic pose for thinking, then continued, "You know, they say it's the memories that first leave you humans in your old age... Otherwise, you'd know that I, I -- Forest, am the daughter of Princess Indigo, daughter of Her Majesty Violet!" 

With a nod, Ranma replied, "Yes, I know who you are... I changed a number of your diapers... What you don't know is that Indigo was sterile. Her mother, Violet, didn't wish to have any other competition for the throne. Princess Indigo couldn't have any children." 

"NANI!!!" Forest screamed. 

With a sad smile, Ranma replied, "Lousy way to find out you're adopted, ne? If you remember, the Eye of Agamotto would opened up a sliver when any of the Blood entered the throne-room..." 

For the first time, Forest realized that Ranma was correct, she had always accompanied her 'mother' into the throne-room and the Eye always opened up a sliver when her mother was in the throne-room. But now, the Eye was completely closed. With this realization, Forest screamed, "NOOOOO!" 

Still screaming, Forest launched herself at Ranma with an energy sword in her right hand. Just as she came into striking distance, she said, "Die, Chronos!" 

Ranma just side-stepped the attack and tapped Forest. 

Forest went flying into one of the walls and collapsed. 

Wondering out loud, Ranma asked, "But how did you get in here? We, Crimson, the Circle of Mages, and I sealed the old throne-room up..." 

With that statement, the 'All-Seeing' Eye of Agamotto opened. The stone lids opened revealing a natural-looking, organic white eye with a black iris. The pupil widen and a beam of light shot out of the Eye and hit Ranma in the middle of his forehead. There a peach-colored copy of the Eye appeared and Ranma froze. 

After several minutes had passed, Forest turned and saw the Eye and Ranma linked. She cried out, "No! It's me that.... No!" 

In a soft voice, Ranma said, "I See... I understand, Agamotto." 

"No," Forest cried, "Only the Blood may use the Eye!" 

Ranma smiled and answered, "I was... involved... in the 'War of the Seven Spheres'... with Steven Strange... several in fact... Agamotto owns me some favors. 

"And he's shown me that the Eye, here, can no longer be defended. So..." 

Ranma gathered his hands together, a huge ball of ki appeared, and as he sent the ball of ki into the floor, he said, "Planet Smasher!" 

There was a flash of light. 

Once the light cleared, nothing remained. Not the Eye, the throne-room, the Hallway, the Reception Room, or the Tower that held them all. Except a blue sphere with a meter radius. 

Inside the sphere, Ranma stood with sad look as he held Forest in his arms. Forest's knife could be seen in her heart. 

= - = - = - =

The Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen stood around looking at each other. Sailor Venus broke the silence and asked Sailors Pluto and Charon, "Now what?" 

Sailor Charon just shrugged. 

"Nothing," Sailor Pluto replied calmly. 

"Nothing??!?!?!" Sailors Jupiter, Mars, and Uranus screamed. 

"Nothing," Pluto repeated. "We're trapped in a 'Dark Dome.'" 

"Which is?" Mercury asked. 

"Well..." Pluto began. "A 'Dark Dome' is an enclosed space-time point -- for the lack of better term. We're cut off from our World. Sealed off from the rest of the Universe.... Everything." 

"Everything?" Sailor Moon wailed. "Even cookies? Cakes? Chocolate?!?!?" 

"Chocolate?!?!?!?" Sailors Venus, Neptune, and Saturn wondered. "Where?!?!?!?!?" 

Mercury in a calm voice asked, "If we're 'cut off from Everything' then, where's Elder Pluto?" 

Pluto blushed, stammered, and replied, "Hehehehehe.... I don't know..." 

"You don't know," all the Senshi wondered in reply. 

"We're in a completely enclosed space-time point," Pluto answered. "It should be impossible to leave a Dome... Yet, I can't find da-- Pluto here." 

"So?" Tuxedo Kamen asked. 

"We wait for hi-- her," Pluto replied. "To re-open the dome." 

= - = - = - =

After what seemed like hours, but was actually only a few moments, Elder Pluto re-appeared with a flash of blue light. She looked around quickly, then raised her staff, and said, "Dark Dome Open." 

The Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen blinked as normal sunlight appeared. 

Mercury looked around and asked Elder Pluto, "How much time has passed?" 

"As far as the World is concerned," Younger Pluto stated. "Only a few nanoseconds has passed." 

"Actually, ten nanoseconds passed," Elder Pluto corrected with a smile. "I like to keep a little lee way..." 

Venus turned to Younger Pluto asked, "Why haven't you used this 'Dark Dome' before?" 

Pluto blushed and then in a very soft, low voice said, "I can't..." 

"What was that?" Sailor Mars asked. She and others can't believe their ears. 

"I can't create Dark Domes -- timepoints -- like da... Elder Pluto can," Younger Pluto said. 

The other Senshi, minus Sailor Charon, who had a thoughtful expression on her face, starred in awe of Elder Pluto. 

Elder Pluto just shrugged and said, "I've had a lot of free time on my hands..." 

= - = - = - =

After Elder Pluto explained about the Tower of Sight that held the 'All-Seeing' Eye of Agamotto, with which the Royals of Lomian could use to see 'Everything', and that someone had learned of the Eye and used the C-Droids as a distraction while that person tried to get the Eye's power for themselves. She concluded that since the Eye couldn't be protected anymore, as it had been by magic-spells and secrecy, she destroyed the Eye and the Tower. 

With that Elder Pluto teleported all the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen back to the Hikawa Shrine where the Moon Princess decreed that they should have a victory party. 

Only Hotaru, Mamoru, and Haruka returned to their 'civilian forms.' The rest simply didn't bother and went about getting the shrine ready for a party. Which basically consisted of cooking, cleaning, and clearing a place for everyone. 

Both Venus and Charon offered to help cook, but everyone else responded with, "No," so they went out to mope. 

Thirty minutes later, everything was set and the party was underway. While she was out, Venus brought the Lunar Cats to the Shrine. Of Charon, there was no sign. 

The two Plutos looked at each other, Younger Pluto shrugged and Elder Pluto sighed and mouthed, "I'll get her..." 

Younger Pluto nodded. A little bit later, when Usagi asked Setsuna where Elder Pluto and Charon were, she replied that Elder Pluto went to find her, but since it was getting late, they probably headed back to their home Universe. Usagi, being Usagi, only heard that they had gone home, which she figured was somewhere on the other side of Tokyo. 

= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =

Sailor Charon, better known as Akane Tendo, was mad. She was mad that Ranma thought her cooking was bad. So she stormed out of the Shrine and began to walk around. Realizing that a Sailor Senshi, even a made up one like herself, would attract too much attention, Akane released the Senshi magic back into the henshin rod that Ranma had made for her so she wouldn't interfere with her counterpart's Universe. 

Of course, as she wandered around, Akane did attract some attention. In this Universe, it wasn't common for a girl to glow a dark bloody red. While everyone who saw was curious about her, once they saw the equally dark expression on her face, everyone, Police included, left her alone. 

Eventually, Akane's wandering took her to the Nerima Ward, and then to her neighborhood where the family Dojo stood. Once just outside of the Tendo place, she debated whether or not to go see her counterpart. While Ranma and Setsuna had said something about that being a 'bad thing,' neither said why or what bad thing would happened. So she walked through the gate, into the yard, and up to the house. 

Once at the house, Akane noticed several things different from her own home. The biggest difference was the sound of students practicing coming from the Dojo, the next difference was the presence of the various potted plants along the porch and the bright colorful curtains in the windows. She knew they, back home, didn't have bright colorful curtains since Kasumi didn't have the time to wash them as often as the curtain would need. To save time and money, Kasumi had replaced their mother's curtains with simple, dark-color ones that didn't need to be washed as often. 

Originally, Akane was going to simply walk in like she would have done back home into the house, but although, she knew she had a counterpart, an 'Akane' native to this Universe, she felt like an outsider, so she knocked on the door and waited for Kasumi to let her in. 

Only it wasn't Kasumi who answered the door. While the woman looked a lot like Kasumi, she was far older. For that matter, the woman also looked a lot like Nabiki and herself, but that fact didn't get processed. 

The woman with a voice that had only been spoken to Akane in her dreams asked, "Hello, can I help you?" 

Akane could only stare as she realized that the woman was Kimiko Tendo, her mother... who died over ten years ago. 

The woman blinked her eyes and stared too. After a few moments, Kimiko asked in a troubled voice, "Akane?" 

On the verge of tears, Akane answered, "Hai, mother." 

The two women, one old and one young, hugged as tears ran down their faces mirroring each other. 

It took the sound of a car passing to break the spell of the reunion. Kimiko suggested that they go into the dining room. 

As Akane walked through the Tendo house, tears were clearly seen as everything was just like she remembered her house was when her mother was alive. Once the two reached the dining room, Kimiko sat Akane down at the table and collected everything she needed for the tea ceremony. 

As always, the tea ceremony helped calmed Kimiko down. She poured her daughter some tea, which Akane clumsily drank from, and then asked, "How?" 

In a gentle voice from behind the two Tendos, Ranma replied, "We come from a different Universe, Kimiko-miko." 

Like a whip, Kimiko turned around with her right index finger pointing at Ranma and said, "Fireball!" 

Akane gasped in surprise as a small ball of fire rocketed from her mother's out stretched hand towards Ranma, who caught it when it was at arm's reach. He then jumped over Kimiko and table, sat down, and gently handed back Kimiko's fireball. 

Both Akane and Kimiko could only stare, the fact that the fireball simply sat in Ranma's hand like a normal rubber ball did not help matters. 

Ranma simply shrugged his shoulders and closed his hand. A brief flicker of smoke escaped from his hand as he opened his hand again and said, "Koi-hime taught you well." 

"By the Vishanti, how do you know Koi-hime?" Kimiko asked quietly. 

Akane was puzzled, and for once, decided to remain quiet. 

"She taught me a few tricks," Ranma said off-handedly. He sighed and continued, "Akane and I are from a different Universe... The Sailor Senshi needed some help, so we came here." 

"A different Universe?" Kimiko repeated in wonder. 

"Hai," Ranma replied. In a sad voice, he added, "One where Kimiko Tendo died of cancer when Akane-chan was six... since then, Kasumi-chan took over most of the household chores, Nabiki-chan took over the finances, and Akane-chan's the heir to the Tendo Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu, a style created by my sensei, Happosai, that is a blending of various Ryuus and disciplines." 

Kimiko asked in a small voice, "And my husband, Soun?" 

"Father became extremely emotionally after you died," Akane replied gently. 

"After ten or so years," Ranma added for Kimiko's benefit, "he's finally recovering." 

Turning to Akane, he said, "Your counterpart, the Akane of this World is dead..." 

"Nani?" Akane gasped. 

"My Akane-chan was killed while saving a little girl's life, five years ago," Kimiko replied gently. 

Ranma explained that this Universe's Kimiko was a sorceress/priestess, who was able to use her powers to prevent the cancer that killed Akane's mother in their world. Koi-hime was Kimiko's sensei in magic and well as the leading Miko in the world. 

= - = - = - =

"Nani?" Nabiki exclaimed upon seeing a person who looked just like her sister that she had failed to protect five years ago. 

Akane looked at her older sister's counterpart and did a double take because Nabiki was dressed like Kuno. She was wearing a light blue harama over a yellow kimono. She even had a bokken at her side. Akane was surprised to noted that Nabiki had some skill in kendo. 

"Na-chan," Kimiko explained. "This is Akane and Ranma... They're from another world..." 

"But," Nabiki began but was interuptted by Ranma, who suggested, "How about the two of you going spar?" 

Nabiki looked startled as she replied, "But, she doesn't have her own sword or equipment..." 

Akane snorted and said, "Don't need it." 

"Nani?" Nabiki exclaimed in surprise at such a statement. Deciding to show this copy of her sister a thing or two, she led Akane to the Dojo. 

As the two Tendo girls left, Kimiko looked at Ranma. 

"The Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu is about surviving any encounter," Ranma said. He shrugged as he said, "Akane's been training in Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu since she was seven, while Nabiki only started Kendo in the last five years since she wished to replace the slain Akane's place as the Dojo's Heir. Nabiki felt had she been more involved in the martial arts, like Akane, she could have saved Akane, like Akane saved Usa-- the little girl. So while Akane's got the experience, Nabiki's got the dedication... 

"For record, the little girl that Akane saved grew up to be Sailor Moon... and when things are down, Akane's sacrifice is what drives Sailor Moon on." 

Kimiko nodded and replied, "Thanks." 

After a moments thought, she asked, "How long are the two of you staying here?" 

"Well," Ranma replied. "We had planned on going straight back... but with Akane revealing herself... causing an Akane to exist where she died five years before... kind of disrupted things. It'll take a bit to get back now... Why?" 

"Could you stay for supper?" Kimiko asked. 

"Sure," Ranma answered. 

= - = - = - =

Supper that night at the Tendo home was... 'different.' Akane received the third surprise of her life when she saw that Kasumi was dressed in a leather mini-shirt, a leather halter-top, leather spiked boots, and not much else. After sparring with Nabiki, that ended in a draw, Akane wasn't surprised to see her father dressed like Nabiki was, although instead of a kimono, he wore a haori. 

At the dinner table, Akane learned that her mother was a well-known sorceress and that Kasumi was her heir to her family magic, and originally, her counterpart was the heir to father's family kendo and Nabiki caught inbetween the magic of her mother and the martial arts of her father. Now, Nabiki combines both her mother's magic with her father's kendo, thus freeing Kasumi from some of her obligations. 

Akane also learned that by interacting with her counterpart's family, she had set up an inter-dimensional 'interference' between her world and this one, so she and Ranma couldn't simply go directly home. They would have to take a 'round-about' way back which would take longer than Ranma had planned on. Fortunately, Ranma was able to send a message back telling their Kasumi and Nabiki that they were going to be 'late.' 

With that, Akane spent a pleasant evening with her mother and on the following morn, she and Ranma would leave to head back to their own Universe. 

= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =

Nabiki helped Kasumi clean up after dinner. Afterwards, she invited Kasumi to watch some television with her as they waited for Ranma and Akane to return. 

After watching some news, they decided to watch a movie. Kasumi got up to make some popcorn while Nabiki got some drinks ready. After an hour had passed, Kasumi asked, "Shouldn't Ranma and Akane be back now?" 

Nabiki blinked and said, "Oh... Didn't you hear Ranma say that he and Akane were going to be late? Somehow about needing exact fare or something..." 

Now it was Kasumi's turn to blink and she added, "Nani? I didn't hear the phone..." 

Now that she thought about Nabiki couldn't remember even picking up the phone. She shrugged and said, "It must have been when you were out, then." 

Kasumi had only gone to the kitchen, so she knew that wasn't it. Both sisters just shrugged there shoulders and continued watching the movie. 

= - = - = - =

Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock at the front door. Since she was feeling slightly uncomfortable from the looks Kasumi was giving her when she thought she wasn't looking, Nabiki decided to answer the door. 

When she opened the door, she was greeted to the sight of an old college professor, who had a briefcase in his hand, and introduced himself as Doctor Kazuki Yamashina of the Nippon Institute of Technology, Physics Department. The name sounded slightly familiar to her for some reason. 

After introductions, Doctor Yamashina asked, "May I please speak with Doctor Saotome-san? I wanted to ask him some questions about that paper he wrote for the Journal of International Physics back in '74 about 'energy flowing through n-th dimensional space interacting with quantum fluctuations on a fourth-dimensional plane.'" 

//_Huh_?// Nabiki thought. //_***Doctor*** Saotome_?// 

Seeing that Nabiki had responded, he added, "I realize that Doctor Saotome-san doesn't like visitors and he's a reclusive as any other Nobel Prize winning Physicists, but he could greatly help my project out..." 

Numbly Nabiki replied, "There's no Doctor Saotome, here... Just Genma and Ranma Saotome." 

Doctor Yamashina's head started bobbing so much that Nabiki was afraid it would fall off as he said, "Yep... I was right! Doctor Ranma Saotome! The man's a genius... regardless of whatever his true age is... You know there's a betting pool on how old Doctor Saotome really is. Actually, I think most poeple wonder that too... Those fools in the Mathematics Department think he's around three or four thousand years old, as if that was possible. Me... I'd place him around sixty-five or so... Those ignoramus in Liberal Arts actually claim to have found his birth certificate... a forgery, obviously, since it says he was born in '69, but I studied under him in '61... so.... 

"Anyway, if he could but help... point me in the right direction..." 

Nabiki's head felt like spinning, yet she she calmly stated, "Ranma-kun on a date Akane-chan..." 

"A ***date*** with his ***wife***?" Doctor Yamashina wondered. "Akane Saotome is harder to find then Doctor Saotome is.... A date... How romantic! In that case, I'll try again at some later date..." 

With that Doctor Yamashina walked away. 

Nabiki could only shook her head and head back to the living room. 

Once back, Kasumi asked, "Who was at the door?" 

"A 'Doctor Yamashina,'" Nabiki replied. 

"Doctor Yamashina?" Kasumi repeated. "Isn't he that physicists working on some kind of anti-gravity device that was in the news yesterday? What did he want?" 

"Ranma's help," Nabiki answered. 

"Ranma's help?" Kasumi asked in confusion. "How can Ranma help? He hasn't even finished High School yet..." 

"Yamashina-san called him, 'Doctor Saotome,'" Nabiki added. "He knew about Akane... although he called her his wife, not fiancee... Said something about Ranma writing a published scientific paper in '74..." 

"But Ranma would have been only 5 years old then," Kasumi pointed out. Kasumi, herself, was born in '66, Nabiki in '68, and Akane was born the same year as Ranma, since they were in the same class, right? Genma won't place Ranma in the same class as Akane, if Ranma wasn't the same age as Akane, would he? What would Genma gain by having Ranma to be in the same class as his fiancee, where she could help him with school work and something other than martial arts in common... 

Nabiki just shrugged her shoulders and sat down to watch the movie. 

= - = - = - =

As the credits rolled, then was a knock at the door. 

Nabiki turned to her older sister and said, "Oneechan, you're turn." 

Kasumi sighed and walked to the door. When she opened it, she was greeted to the sight of the largest breasts she had ever seen. Kasumi stepped back and looked up into a very beautiful face of the gaijin woman she had never before seen. The woman was about a full head taller than she and had the darkest black hair and the bluest eyes. The woman wore a simple blue silk kimono which couldn't conceal the fact that the woman had the largest mammary glands that Kasumi had ever seen, much larger than onna-Ranma's. She absently noted that the woman wore arm bracelets on both arms, a book of some kind was in her left hand, and she had sandals on her feet. She stepped back and realized that the woman had very muscular yet feminine figure. She wondered if this woman could be stronger than Ryouga. 

The woman smiled, looked at her book, and back at Kasumi as she said, "My name is Diana." 

Diana smiled at Kasumi, looked at her book again, and said to Kasumi, "I'm looking for Rai--" She paused then corrected, "for Ranma-san." 

"Ranma-kun?" Kasumi asked. "You're looking for Ranma?" 

Diana looked at her book quickly and as she nodded her head, she replied, "Hai, Ranma..." 

Diana smiled at Kasumi. 

Kasumi smiled at Diana. 

Kasumi said, "Ranma-kun's not here... He's out with Akane-chan." 

Diana looked at her book, flipped a few pages, then responded, "Out? Out where?" 

Kasumi just shrugged her shoulders. Some gesters were universal. 

After flipping some more pages, Diana asked, "When Ranma be back?" 

"Oh, he should be back tomorrow," Kasumi answered happily. 

Diana sighed and replied, "Thanks... Coming back tomorrow." 

As she walked away, Diana said in her native Greek, "Ranma, you can't hide from me, an Amazon Princess always gets what she wants. The Prophecy will be fulfilled..." 

Kasumi looked at the departing woman. She had wondered what the woman had said, but she didn't understand the woman's language except she did hear Ranma's name being mentioned. She also saw the blush on the woman's face as she closed the gate. 

Once Kasumi was back in the living room, Nabiki asked who was at the door. To which Kasumi replied, "Some gaijin woman looking for Ranma-kun." 

"I hope she's not another fiancee for Ranma," Nabiki wondered out loud. 

Nabiki's statement was followed by the sounds of thunder, lightning, and a roaring wind. She thought she heard three voices cursing, two in the same language and the other in a different language. 

Kasumi just said, "Sounds like the storm is getting worse." 

[=== End of Part 7 ===]  
  


[=== Begin of Definition ===]  


hatsuyuki
    first snow (of season)
[=== End of Definition ===] 


	8. Chapter Eight

"A Hell of a Life"  
by  
Shaule Sachs

= - = Part 8 = - =

= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =  
Version 0.2  
#include ahoal/author_notes.h  
#include mega_crossover/std_disclaimer.h  
#include alternate_universe/std_disclaimer.h  
#include ranma/std_disclaimer.h  
#include dr_strange/std_disclaimer.h  
#include ah_megamisama/std_disclaimer.h

Akane Tendo awoke up feeling very disoriented. It actually took a few moments for her to realize that she was sleeping in the Tendo's guest room. It took even longer for her to realize why...

The reason, she was not in her 'proper Universe,' and she felt it. What 'it' was, exactly, she could not tell anyone, least of all herself, but it was there. Added to her sense of wrongness was the fact that in her native Universe, the Tendo's guest room had been completely neglected ever since her Mother's death. When the Saotome had shown up, Kasumi seemly threw what little was left there out, and the Saotome had used the room for their own since. But in this Universe, the guest room was fully furnished, with a king-size bed, dresser, and bureau with a full-size mirror. The room itself was larger then what she recalled of her Father's room.

The feeling of wrongness, for the lack of a better term, had been with her since she entered this Universe with Ranma. Her counterpart had been killed in saving a young blonde girl with dumpling hairstyle from being run-over by a car. She and her counterpart had been trained in the martial arts to take in her surroundings, in order to be alert and ready at any given time. This training also allowed her and her counterpart to act instinctively when spotting danger. So when her counterpart had saw that young blonde girl in danger, she had acted, leaving behind her confused, untrained Oneesan, and saved the girl. She had put herself in harm's way and paid the price.

When Nabiki finally caught on what was happening, she reached them only in time to see her sister in the young blonde girl's arms. She heard the young blonde girl asked why did Akane sacrificed herself for a stranger like that. The answer, which both haunted and shaped the lives of Usagi Tsukino and Nabiki Tendo to this very day: 'There was no one else who could.'

Those seven little words had different effects on the two girls who heard them. For Usagi, who went on to become Sailor Moon and later Neo-Queen Serenity, those seven little words spoken by her savior became her talisman when times got Dark with a capital 'D.' But as for Nabiki, they were an accusation. Had she continued to train like Akane or Kasumi did, she felt she could have helped too or, at the very least, saved Akane from her Fate as she saved the young girl. Four years later, a very driven Nabiki was the Tendo Kendo School's Heir and reigning Kendo Champion of Greater Tokyo Area.

- scene break - scene break - scene break -

However, all Akane knew was that her counterpart was dead, she and Ranma were 'guests' in the Tendo household, and it was morning. She didn't remember falling asleep last night but she must have, right?

Akane walked downstairs to the kitchen, more out of habit than any other reason. There she found her Mother - she corrected herself, her counterpart's Mother. Another reminder that she was not in her proper place. Even though she knew that the person wasn't her actual mother, she stopped and stared for a moment. She also stopped to try to figure out what she was doing. Kimiko concentrating in front of the dining room table with her arms outstretched, palms up, with her eyes closed. A ball of fire rested in her right palm, while a ball of water was in her left. Both balls just floated there, seemingly doing nothing.

Taking her eyes away from her counterpart's mother, Akane noticed several even smaller balls of water and fire on the table moving in various patterns. Then all of sudden, Kimiko turned her palms over and all the balls on the table disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Kimiko saw Akane's astonished look and inquired, "Yes, Akane-chan?"

Akane blinked, then shook her head, and she asked, "What did you just do?"

Kimiko's eyes blinked in confusion as she answered, "You've seen me cleaning the table -"

Kimiko stopped abruptly, sighed, and then continued, "Sorry. I forgot for a moment... I was cleaning the table off after breakfast with magic... Surely, my counterpart isn't that different than me..."

A tear formed in Akane's right eye as she said, "My mother died of cancer when I was only five - so I don't know..."

"I'm sorry, Akane-chan," Kimiko replied. She hugged Akane as she started to cry. She let Akane cry for a little bit and then said, "Tell you what, I'll show you a few minor spells... I can feel that you have the Gift inside you."

"I'd like that," Akane replied happily.

- scene break - scene break - scene break -

In the Tendo Dojo, Ranma and Nabiki were practicing kendo. Nabiki had a stylish katana with an alternating blue and white striped handle. The Kanji for 'Tendo' could be clearly seen on the blade. In contrast, Ranma's katana was simple without any marking or patterns on it. The only thing of note was the fact that the blade looked brand-new while the handle looked worn and highly used.

Even to an untrained eye, it was clear that Ranma was a Master of the Art, while in comparison, Nabiki was still but a student. And a willing student she was, for she was learning more from Ranma in the span of an hour, then she had learned the entire five years she had studied under her Father and his Art.

They had been sparring and discussing the Art of the Sword since a little before daybreak. They had discussed the purpose of the Art its history, and techniques they had known. The discussion included him demonstrating some special techniques using a sword to her, either to emphasis a point he was trying to make or an attempt to improve her Art. Both were enjoying the company of the other.

They had been debating the use of mysticism and magic in the Arts of Kenjitsu and Kendo, for the last hour or so. Nabiki was debated against, while Ranma was debating for. The debate lead to a simple sparring match, with her on the offensive. She had noted an opening and quickly struck. She had, based on his skill level, expected him to block, thus she was very surprised as she saw her sword went through his body. For a moment, she thought she saw him become ghostly blue as her katana passed through him. Without the expected resistance, she became unbalanced, and he placed his sword's edge against her throat, asking if she yield.

Nabiki nodded her head, unafraid that Ranma would hurt her.

Ranma took a sheath from seemly behind his back, placed his sword within it, and then seemly returned both to whatever place he had originally gotten it from.

Nabiki's eyes widened in surprise as she saw her katana floating in the air to rest back in her hand. She couldn't help stating the obvious, "Magic..."

Ranma just nodded.

"Are you a mage?" Nabiki asked using the neutral term for a trained magic-user. Mages tend to be angry if you did not call them by what they were. She was not surprised that Ranma had some magical training. She, herself, knew a few spells, in addition to kendo. After all, her mother was the Sorceress Supreme, the most powerful mage on the planet, and it's main magical defender. She had never thought to combine the two Arts. For so long, she had been torn by her Mother's mystical World of Magic and her Father's physical World of the Sword. But in the span of their discussion and his little demonstration just now, he had opened her eyes to the benefit of combining to the two Worlds.

Ranma suggested that since her mother was just cleaning off the dining room table, they could go approach her to see about giving her some more lessons.

Nabiki asked how he knew what her mother was currently doing, to which he replied as if it was obvious that he could feel her cleaning spells. She was slightly amazed at that, since she knew that her mother used very little magic to clean off the table after each meal, but for him to be able to detect that... To the best of her knowledge, Kasumi, her mother's Heir, was among the best at detecting any magical energy, even possibly better then their Mother was, but even she couldn't detect their mother's cleaning magic despite their mother performing said magic right in front of her.

Looking into the house, Ranma sighed and said, "I guess it's time for me and Akane to go back..."

Ranma saw Nabiki opening her mouth to say something so he motioned her to be silent. From the same mystical place the sheath and sword went, he pulled out a large pouch and placed on his right side with the strap going over his left shoulder. He pulled a book out of the pouch and handed it to Nabiki.

When Nabiki took the book, a tingle went through her hands signaling that the book contained magic. Her right eye brow went up in question.

"The book is enchanted to only allow those I wish to read it," Ranma stated to her unasked question. "Its a compilation of a series of scrolls, book-form for easy of transport, to guide one in learning Unari Yoki Tora Yaiba Ryuu[1]. Which is a style that combines Kenjitsu, magic, and kempo together into a single form. I believe you can learn from this book... to help you..."

Nabiki was at a lost for words so she simply kissed him on his cheek for thanks.

- scene break - scene break - scene break -

As Ranma walked towards the dining room, he absently rubbed the spot were Nabiki had kissed him. He stopped as he saw Akane sitting in Kimiko's lap as Kimiko sat on the floor with her arms around her daughter. Both Tendos' eyes were closed in concentration. He couldn't help smiling at the sight.

After a while, Ranma's smile turned to a frown as he realized that they had been at it for a while now... yet he couldn't detect anything different. So he sent a magical probe towards Akane to check on her when Kimiko's eyes flew open and looked at Ranma with a sour face.

"Don't you know that's rude," Kimiko began. To which, Ranma smiled in apology and replied, "Sorry..."

Kimiko hmphed and motioned for Akane to let her up.

Out of curiosity, Ranma asked, "So what were you trying to show her? A fireball spell? Lightning attack spell? Earthquake spell?"

Kimiko just shook her head and replied, "No... We started off with a simple spell to make a ball of light... but she doesn't even know the basics, so we were trying to just focus her magic..."

A sob escaped from Akane as she said, "But I can't even do that..."

Ranma pulled Akane up, hugged her to comfort her, and then suggested, "Lets try together."

Kimiko sat back down, Ranma sat down facing Kimiko, and Akane sat between them. Kimiko then said, "First, I'll link with Ranma... Then, we'll link with you to help you..."

Both Akane and Ranma nodded at that and Akane closed her eyes. Thus, she didn't see Kimiko's eyes grow wide in surprise and fear as she linked with Ranma. The surprise was her realization that his powers vastly outstripped her own, which was greatly amazing since Kimiko was by definition most powerful sorceress on the planet. Yet, here was Ranma with more raw power than she had ever saw... Her fear was caused by the fact that she knew that he was holding back most of his powers from her. That he was showing as much as he was, that he thought it would not be noticed as unusually... That was a cause for concern.

Ranma smiled until he saw Kimiko's reaction. At which point, he simply shrugged and, through the link, motioned towards Akane. Kimiko calmed herself and then proceeded to add Akane to the link. Once they linked with Akane, both realized why Akane was having problems... Both could only stare at her in a mixture of horror and sorrow.

"Akane-chan," Kimiko began softly.

Akane looked up at her mother with some hesitation.

"The reason why you couldn't cast a spell is... simple," Kimiko continued.

"Huh?" Akane asked confused and slightly scared.

"You're burnt out," Kimiko explained.

"Burnt out?" Akane repeated confused.

"It means," Ranma said gently. "That your magical gift is there... inside you... but you used too much, too quickly in too short a time period..."

"Can you fix it?" Akane wondered. She didn't fully understand what was going on, but she really, really wanted to perform magic with her mother...

"It's not something that can be fixed," Ranma stated in quietly.

"But..." Akane began.

"There's no buts, Akane-chan," Kimiko replied softly. "I'm sorry..."

"Well, that explains why your statuette didn't come to life last night," Ranma mused out loud.

"Nani?" both Akane and Kimiko inquired.

Looking sheepishly, Ranma explained, "I gave Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane, each a Firteburian statuette... They should have come to life to serve as their owners' familiars..."

"But mine didn't," Akane replied.

Ranma simply nodded.

"Because your gift is burnt out," Kimiko said. As an afterthought, she asked, "What about..."

"Neither Nabiki or Kasumi said anything when I asked if anything 'unusual' happened last night," Ranma replied with a shrug.

"And a statuette coming to life would be unusual," Akane laughed. "Even for us..."

At Kimiko's raised eye brow, Akane went into a brief history of her live and the craziness that surrounded her and Ranma.

After the 'explanation,' Kimiko just smiled and said, "I'm sorry I couldn't help you with magic... At least, let me send you off with some food for your trip..."

"Arigato," both Akane and Ranma said.

Kimiko got up, went to the kitchen, and returned with a basket. She handed it to Ranma, who placed the basket into the pouch on his side. Akane watched in amazement as the larger basket went into the smaller pouch opening.

Once set, Kimiko asked in curiosity, "What preparations do you require, Ranma, for making a portal?"

He wanted to say 'none,' but he didn't wish to alienate Kimiko even farther, so he said, "A protected area... with a doorway."

Kimiko nodded her head and said, "There's a blessed torii in the back you could use..."

"Perfect," Ranma stated as Kimiko leaded them out the back.

Akane and Ranma stared as they saw the backyard of the Tendo place. It was easily twice the size of the backyard that Akane had grown up in. Towards the end of the yard, was a medium size, torii, a prayer gate. Ranma went up to the torii, placed his hand on it, and nodded. He walked in front of it and sat down. A blue glow covered his body and he rose slightly into the air.

Kimiko could feel the power Ranma was gathering and she took a step back. Both she and Akane watched in amazement as a fog settled over the torii. The fog quickly obscured the gate. After a few moments, the fog lifted... and the torii had two closed doors. Ranma stood and motioned for the doors to open, which they did. The two doors leaded into a smoke filled area.

Ranma reached for Akane's hand, which she gave without hesitation despite her fears, and the two walked through. Once through, the doors closed and then disappeared.

- scene break - scene break - scene break -

- scene break - scene break - scene break -

It was a temple yard, like many others. There was the main building and a small shrine to the yard, open space with an occasional tree to give shade, and a garden to both beautify and add a pleasant smell to the area. Everything was in its place, and there was a place for everything.

Thus the sudden appearance of two vertical wooden beams appearing out of nowhere, followed by a third wooden beam that was horizontal, resting on the two support beams with its ends sticking slightly out was very startling. Until a fog settled in and blended everything together as if the torii had always been there.

To most, the addition of the torii would have gone unnoticed. It was a temple yard, after all. There were already similar torii present. But this wasn't your everyday temple. This temple had four people within it. Three goddesses and a man worth of a goddess's love. And those three goddesses are pissed at being disturbed at dinner time. Especially when dessert was 'Death by Chocolate' cake.

The three goddesses each stood ready with their favored offensive spell: Urd, a thunderbolt; Belldandy, a hurricane-force wind; and Skuld, a Skuld-bomb. Keiichi, the only mortal present, was wisely in the back of the Temple in the bomb-shelter that Belldandy had created for him for the occasionally demonic invasions that seemed to happened semi-regularly. That the usual demonic invasions currently consisted of succubus, merely urged Belldandy's haste in its construction. The only worse than a gang of horny succubi, were drunk, horny succubi, and they, for some reasons the Norns haven't figured out yet, seem seem to converge on poor Keiichi.

Thus the three Norns were more than slightly surprised with the figure walking out of the dimensional fog was vary obviously male. So surprised, and a little worked up, Urd accidentally released her thunderbolt prematurely, zapping herself and the guy, who took the brunt of the thunderbolt as if it was nothing. Which caused Belldandy to worry, since while Urd was a second-class goddess, Urd had the power of a first-class goddess just without the 'expected' control... Belldandy's worry caused her to release her wind spell, at slightly less-than hurricane force, displacing some of the fog revealing the guy to the Norns. Skuld seeing who it was, dropped her lit bomb, and ran towards the guy screaming, "Oniichan!"

Skuld, of course, in dropping the bomb forgot: one, that it was lit, two, that this bomb had a very short fuse, and three, that a lit bomb goes off...

End result: a flying Skuld, a wind-blown Belldandy, and a half-scorched Urd.

- scene break - scene break - scene break -

Ranma could only smile. He didn't understand how or why these things happened, but after a few dozen such occasions he just took them in stride.

Still smiling, he easily caught the airborne Skuld and said, "Hi, Skuld-chan. Having fun?"

"Raijin-kun," Urd began with a slightly irritated voice. "Why didn't you tell us you were coming over?"

Ranma just shrugged and said, "I hadn't planned on it..."

"What?" a now slightly upset Belldandy responded.

"Until I finished some personal business," Ranma finished without missing a beat. "Right now, I'm just passing through."

"Oh," three disappointed Norns sighed.

After giving a group hug, Ranma waved his hand in a motion that restored the temple grounds, and then went back into the torii. From the torii, Ranma brought a very tired Akane out. They were holding hands in such a way that Urd knew the two travelers were close, while Skuld thought Akane would be falling on her face if Raijin wasn't holding her up. He stopped in front of the Norns and motioned to each while saying, "Akane, the one with the white hair is Urd, the one with the brown hair is Urd's sister, Belldandy, and the kid over there is Urd and Belldandy's youngest sister, Skuld.

"Urd, Belldandy, and Skuld, this is Akane Tendo."

Only Urd's face showed any reaction to Akane's name while Belldandy, ever the host, addressed Akane with, "Welcome, Tendo-san. Any friend of Raijin-san's, is a friend of -"

"Ours," Urd cut in. She saw the look Raijin was giving Belldandy when he realized she was going to identify themselves as 'the Norns.' She didn't understand, but she know better than get Raijin mad at her and her sisters. Her love life still suffered from the pranks that Raijin had pulled on her the last time he was upset with her. She also saw some confusion cross Tendo-san's face when they had addressed Raijin as 'Raijin.' Urd just shrugged and wondered if maybe Tendo-san had only known Raijin as 'Raiden.' It wasn't her concern.

Looking around, Ranma asked, "Where's Keiichi?"

"Oh my!" Belldandy said as she ran into the Temple.

Ranma looked towards Urd for an explanation which was, "Succubi have been popping out of the wood works looking for Keiichi... So Bell-chan has him protected... We thought you were some more succubi..."

Ranma just looked at Urd wondering if she was serious or not, while Akane was growing more and more confused. Urd just shrugged to say she didn't understand it either.

Skuld, now that there wasn't going to be a battle, was looking none too pleased. First off, Tendo-san was obviously a mortal with Raijin-oniichan, strike one against Tendo-san. Secondly, Raijin-oniichan and Tendo-san's arrival had interrupted Skuld's enjoyment of 'Death by Chocolate' cake that Belldandy had spent all day making, strike two against Tendo-san. Thirdly, Raijin-oniichan was talking with Urd and, more importantly, ignoring her, foul-ball against Tendo-san. Fourthly, Tendo-san was clinging too closely to Raijin-oniichan then should be allowed, while Raijin-oniichan kept himself between herself and Tendo-san, pop fly... And finally, Belldandy-oneechan was within the Temple ALONE with Keiichi... Game called on account of weather. As Skuld raced into the Temple, Akane Tendo would never know how close she had come to Death's Doors that day and if Ranma had any say in the matter, which he did, she would never know.

Both Raijin and Urd paused a moment to follow Skuld's mad dash into the Temple. They listened for a moment, heard an small explosion, nodded their headed, and sighed, "When will she grow up?"

Urd giggled and then asked, "So, Raijin-oniichan, how long will you be staying?"

Looking sideways at Akane, Ranma replied, "Overnight... A- I need to get my bearing before we can continue on home..."

Looking at Akane, while replying to Raijin, Urd said, "Okay... There's a guest room next to my room..."

"Thank you, Urd-san," Akane's tired voice spoke for the first time.

"You're welcome, kid," Urd replied back with a smirk.

Akane tried to scowled at Urd, but she was too tired. Why she didn't know. She had just taken one step into the torii and one step out of it. Yet she felt as if she had just run a marathon at top speed. She also didn't like the looks the kid, Skuld, was giving her nor did she like the looks the bimbo, Urd, was giving Ranma... But she was too tired for anything but sleep...

- scene break - scene break - scene break -

After settling Akane into the guest bed, Ranma joined the Norns and Keiichi at the dinner table, who had resumed their dinner. After a while, Skuld's curiosity got the better of her, so she asked, "What's the mortal doing with you, Oneechan?"

"We're going home," Ranma replied.

"Nani?" the Norns asked in surprise.

"But mortals can not live in Asgard, Oneechan," Skuld stated in confusion.

Ranma shook his head and answered, "Not Asgard. Home... My World."

"Your world?" Keiichi asked confused. "I thought all gods came from Heaven..."

"Not all kami," Ranma remarked. "Me, I was born in Nerima General Hospital, about a year before Akane was."

"Nani?" Now, Keiichi was really confused.

"I was originally a mortal, like Akane and yourself," Ranma responded to Keiichi. "Through training, mediation, and very trying circumstances, I, like the Buddhas before me, reached Enlightenment.. And through Enlightenment, became a kami..."

"But, Oniichan, you're older than the old hag is," Skuld stated calmly as Urd stalked over to her to complain about that 'old hag' comment.

"Oneechan, not during dinner," Belldandy remarked with a smile.

Urd just scowled and whispered as she walked back to her place at the table, "Later, brat."

Skuld just stuck her tongue out at Urd in response.

"As I said, we're returning to my world," Ranma explained. "While only a few decades have passed on my world since my birth, I've spent a long time out in the Multiverse... When I defeated that Mongol invasion a while ago with my lightning arrows..."

"You're Raiden?" Keiichi exclaimed.

"Or Raijin," Ranma stated. "Whichever you prefer, makes no difference to me."

"That was over seven hundred years ago," Keiichi replied.

"What can I say, I age well," Ranma answered with a smirk.

"Unlike some people," Skuld remarked while looking at Urd.

"Watch it, brat," Urd growled. If looks could kill, Skuld would be six feet under. Under what, Urd couldn't decide yet.

"And to answer the next question, no, Akane doesn't know that I'm a kami," Ranma said. "And I want to keep it that way. She just thinks I'm a very good martial artist that picked up a few, very useful techniques over the decades I was away. Which I have done..."

"But..." Keiichi started.

"The Martial Arts back home are powerful enough to include ki manipulation," Ranma replied. "Not as powerful as some of the Arts I have come across, but still powerful in their own ways.

"The two most powerful martial artists are very old and mortal. Cologne, an Joketsuzoku Elder, will be having her hundredth birthday in a year and a half, yet she still moves like lightning and take on most regular armies by herself. Happosai-sensei is even more powerful, even without his Singonshu monk's powers. Although cursed never to age, among other things, he was still a very powerful martial artist in his own right before that, and since, he's only got stronger.

"It's a matter of controlling one's ki. An over-simplification is that a person is born with a finite amount of ki. A living person's ki is both lost and gained as they go about their lives. When you gain more ki than you lose, you grow. When you lose more than you gain, you age. So if you can control and minimize the amount of ki you lose, you can control your aging as well. Of course, most people don't learn this until they're quite old, unless you're a kami, for them, it's natural."

"Oh." Keiichi didn't full understand what Ranma had said but he thought he got the gist of it.

The three Norns noted that Ranma hadn't included himself with them, the kami, in his explanation of aging, even though he had early identified himself as one.

Out of curiosity, Keiichi asked, "So what are you kami of?"

Ranma reached into his pocket and hand over his 'business card' which said:  
~Raijin~  
~Kami of Storms~  
~Security Daemon~  
~First Class, First Category.~  
~Unlimited. Unrestricted.~

"Unrestricted?" Keiichi inquired in puzzlement. That was a new one on him.

"Nani?" the Norns asked in curiosity. Keiichi handed Ranma's business card over to Belldandy, who looked at it, and passed it on to Urd. Urd looked at it, whistled in awe, and was about to handed it over to Skuld, when she grabbed it out of her hands.

"Hey, you brat, wait your turn," Urd shouted at Skuld, whose response was to stick out her tongue at her oldest sister.

"Now that wasn't very nice," Belldandy remarked.

"Sorry, Oneechan," Skuld replied only to Belldandy, ignoring Urd.

Belldandy just sighed.

"I've never heard of 'unrestricted' before, Oneechan. What does it mean?" Skuld asked.

"I've heard of it," Urd said with a touch of awe in her voice. "But I've never met someone who had it..." Turning to Ranma, she added, "You must be very, very good if Father gave that to you."

"But what does it mean, Oneechan?" Belldandy asked.

With a huff of maturity, Urd remarked, "It means that Raijin-oniichan, here, can both go anywhere he needs to go to fulfill his mission as well as the fact he's not restricted by Rules as we are."

"Nani?" Skuld exclaimed. "But..."

Ranma just shrugged and stated simply, "I do what needs to be done."

- scene break - scene break - scene break -

After an awkward silence that lasted the rest of the meal, the Norns, Keiichi, and Ranma moved out to the porch to watch the Sun set.

Motioning back into the Temple where Akane was, Urd finally asked, "So what's the story with the girl?"

"Huh?" Ranma responded. "Oh... Akane..."

"That was the name you introduced her with," Urd replied with a smirk as if it was a private joke.

In a sad voice Ranma explained, "Akane... She... She just found out that she had the mage-gift within her and that she burnt herself out. She had tried to use her mage-gift to become a better martial artist...

"And all she got out of her sacrifice, was a little more strength. She could have gotten a lot more if she took the time to train properly. But its all about shortcuts with Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu..."

"Burnt herself out?" someone asked in confusion. It could have been Keiichi or Skuld, Ranma couldn't tell which nor did he care.

Either way, Urd said, "Burning oneself out means that you used too much power, too quickly in too short a time. It's like burning the entire wick of a candle all at once, instead of using the candle the proper way so it lasts."

"Still, that don't explain why Tendo-san is tired, Oniichan," Belldandy replied.

"True," Ranma stated honestly. "Akane-chan is tired because while in transit, I attempted to 'heal' Akane's gift..."

"But since she, herself, burnt her gift," Urd began.

"I couldn't," Ranma finished.

"Maybe Father..." Belldandy began.

"Nope," Ranma interrupted in a sad voice. "Too much of a direct interference."

"Oh," both Belldandy and Urd sighed.

Not understanding, Skuld remarked, "She can't miss what she never had."

With a sad smile, Ranma said, "True... But after seeing her counter-part's mother in action... and dreaming of using sorcery to level the playing field with her rivals... What was left of her Spirit was crushed..."

"Oniichan," Belldandy began. "While Tendo-san did look tired when she appeared with you. She didn't seem 'crushed'..."

"It's less painful this way," Ranma replied. "As Skuld said, if she doesn't know what she's missing..."

Belldandy was in shock, "Oniichan, to..."

"Actually, it was her idea," Ranma defended himself with a sad smile.

"Still," Belldandy began.

"Imooto-chan," Urd interrupted laying a gentle hand on Belldandy's shoulder. She continued in a gentle voice of experience, "It's better this way... I know."

Startled, Belldandy and Skuld looked confused at Urd. Of course, Skuld and Keiichi didn't understand half of what was being said and a three-quarters of what wasn't. But that was typical of things.

Ranma turned to Keiichi and stated with a smirk, "I hear you're having succubus problems... When did it begin?"

Both Keiichi and Belldandy blushed, Skuld scowled, and Urd smirked too. Belldandy and Keiichi, alternating, explained that since the beginning of the last new moon, succubi had been showing up looking for Keiichi at night. At first, it was just one or two (twins) succubi.. After a week, it became whole gangs. After the explanation, Ranma took a classic I-am-thinking-of-important-things position.

The Norns and Keiichi watched for a while. After several minutes, Skuld excused herself politely to go back to work of her latest project. Urd yawned and looked at Keiichi with a slight amount of worry and then looked at Belldandy, who met her gaze with a slight smile. Belldandy and Keiichi watched Ranma as he thought over the problem. Only Belldandy, as a First-Class Goddess herself, could detect minute amounts of mana passing through Ranma and out of him as probed his surrounding and Keiichi trying to see what did not belong.

After some time had passed, Ranma smiled.

Urd became nervous. She had seen that smile on Ranma's face before. It was the type of smile of a cat got after eating the canary and its owner was getting the cat another canary.

Ranma leaned over to Keiichi, whispered a single word, and Keiichi's face became redder than a beet and he passed out.

Belldandy looked concerned as she saw Keiichi pass out. She looked to Ranma with accusation as she asked, very politely, "What did you say to him, Oneechan?"

Ranma just smirked and calmly replied, "I think I know what's been attracting so many succubi here."

Realization dawned on Urd's face and she exclaimed, "You can't mean... That... Since..."

"Yep," Ranma answered with a laugh.

Urd bursted out laughing.

Belldandy frowned. She did not think whatever the problem was, that it was a laughing matter. Nor did she like the idea that her oniichan, Urd, and oneechan, Raijin, were laughing at her Keiichi. To show her displeasure, Belldandy aimed a small lightning bolt at both Urd and Raijin with only the precious that a First-Class Goddess could.

Urd jumped out and exclaimed, "Ouch."

Ranma just smirked at Belldandy's attempt to use a lightning bolt on the Kami of Storms and said apologetically, "Sorry."

"So what's wrong with my Keiichi?" Belldandy asked. The possessive article was not lost on either of the two older kami.

Gently, Ranma asked, "Bell-chan, what is a succubus?"

Puzzled at the question, Belldandy replied, "A succubus is a supernatural being that lives off of sexual energy of mortals."

"And what's the best kind of sexual energy?" Urd asked gently.

Belldandy's face took on a look of intense concentration that gave her a 'I-am-so-cute' look. Urd frowned, with her that look scrunched up her beautiful face into 'I-just-ate-a-lemon' look.

After ten minutes of concentrating, Belldandy said, "I don't know."

Urd did a face-fault. Ranma had a large sweat-drop on his head as he looked at Urd with a look that said 'I am not going to tell her.'

Urd sighed and stated, "Sexual tension is the best sexual energy for succubi The more, the better."

Still puzzled, Belldandy just nodded her head and accepted her oniichan's knowledge without question.

Seeing that the two were not getting through to her, Ranma asked, "How old is Keiichi?"

"Keiichi is twenty-one this month," Belldandy said in a matter-of-fact tone. She was puzzled, did Raijin think she did not know the basic facts of her Keiichi's life?

"A young man," Ranma remarked. "And what are young man known for?"

"Motorcycles!" Belldandy exclaimed happily.

Urd had a huge sweat-drop on her forehead. She looked Heaven-wards for strength as she realized that this was going to be a long night.

A gentle wind blew a pamphlet onto Belldandy's lap. The cover title stated 'Hormones, Sex, and Young People.'

Urd saw the pamphlet, looked Heaven-wards again, and mouthed a heart-felt 'Thank You.' She did not want to explain 'the Birds and the Bees' to Belldandy. That is what Parents are for.

Belldandy realizing Who brought the pamphlet to her attention, began to read it. After the first paragraph a visible blush appeared on her face.

After Belldandy read the pamphlet, Ranma asked, "Now do you understand?"

"You mean?" Belldandy started to ask but could not finish.

"Yes, Imooto-chan, Keiichi is one huge repressed young man," Urd said with a smirk that she could not keep from her face.

"I doubt he hasn't ever..." Ranma began but stopped when the two younger girls looked at him with a slight more than necessary interest. "Pure heart, pure..."

"Oh my," Belldandy remarked with a blush.

Urd smirk turned into a smile as she said, "So in order to stop the succubi, Keiichi's got to let some stream off... so to speak."

"Yep." Ranma's smile mirrored Urd's.

With a determine look on her face, Belldandy stood up and stated, "I must help my Keiichi deal with this problem. And stop those pesky succubi from coming here."

Ranma and Urd watched Belldandy walk into the temple. They could not help noticing that Belldandy's blush had yet to leave her face.

Ranma turned to Urd and said, "Why don't you go get Skuld-chan while I go place a rest spell on Akane, then the three of us can go get some ice cream."

"Okay, Oneechan," Urd answered with a smirk, realizing that Raijin wished to leave Belldandy and Keiichi alone in the temple to 'deal with their problem.'

- scene break - scene break - scene break -

The next morning, a slightly tired Urd and Skuld joined a smiling faced Belldandy and Keiichi in seeing Ranma and Akane off. They waved good-bye to Ranma and Akane has they stepped into the torii once more. = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - =  
[=== Begin Definition ===]  
Note 1:

Japanese (Romaji)

English

Unari Yoki Tora Yaiba Ryuu

Roaring Bright(spirit) Tiger Blade(sword) School

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Someone, please, remind me why I'm posting here with the difficult formatting?


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